Ahhh, Valentine's Day

     Expensive candy, overpriced flowers and dinner menus, and ads proclaiming the only way to express your love is with an expensive jewelry.  This is what Valentine's day has come to, it seems, or it's just that I've been married for almost 8 years and I don't feel I need to pay extra to exclaim my feelings towards my husband and loved ones.  My husband and I have long decided to ignore Valentine's Day because it's overpriced and we don't like going to restaurants with a not-so-great fixed menu.  We usually get a babysitter some other night and just go out to a nice dinner or movie.  Just getting out of the house to have some time together is a huge privelage these days, and so we want to enjoy it on our terms.  We like to call it 'Anti-Valentine's Day'.  Again, it's not that V-Day is bad or that we dislike the idea, but we really don't like how it's become such a huge commercial money making day.  And, I must say the advertisers are good because those commercials sure are convincing - you don't love your wife if you don't send her flowers (that will be way cheaper in a week) and buy her a beautiful diamond necklace.  Diamonds are even marked up during the Valentine season!  Sometimes it's the small, thoughtful things that are so much more meaningful than anything else.  
     Valentine's day is fun for kids - they get to exchange cards and candies with kids and it's a great excuse to have a party (for those places who still celebrate fun holidays without putting some strange PC-twist on it), and as a parent I enjoy the innocent fun of it all with my kids the best.  My kids had a valentine exchange at school, and they had a great time putting together their Valentines and picking ones out to send to their cousins.  I even bought the two older ones Pillow Pets because they had been wanting them for naptime at school.  I love an acceptable excuse to spoil my kids a little bit!  And, there's nothing sweeter than getting a little valentine from your kids with a Happy Valentine's Day rocket ship drawing or little scribbles that are an attempt at writing actual letters!  I even got suckered by the people at the grocery store selling chocolate covered strawberries, but it was worth it when the four of us (baby can 't eat them yet) enjoyed such a pretty treat.
     This year I didn't have time to prepare a special meal or anything and so our strawberry dessert and pillow pet exchange will have to do, along with a few Happy Valentine's Day greetings. We will most likely enjoy some good wine while catching up on Glee after the kids go to bed, but I can't think of anywhere I"d rather be on V-Day than with my family (hey, it still counts as being 'together' when most of them are sleeping)!  I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day, but didn't break the bank doing so! 

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