Our tradition for several years was a Valentine's Day (or on the nearest weekend) hike in the desert near where we lived, with a lovely picnic out in the open air.
Now that we live in Minnesota, that tradition has been discontinued and we usually go to a restaurant!
we usually ignore it, but i got a bee in my bonnet about it this year and printed out some silly valentines online, and i plan on surprising my husband with them.
we pay $10/hr for a teenager (14-17), and $15 for an au pair (off duty). Trade with moms, and have some young 'churchy' friends who allow us to "sliding scale' for them.
In total sweetness, the churchy kids who are our current sitters asked us to "donate" to our other churchy kids who moved to help found a church in another town, because those kids haven't found jobs yet, and these kids do have jobs. So, we put th emoney into the other kid's accounts. We paid $10/hr -- which came to $50 when we were done.
We usually don't do much of anything, as our anniversary falls right at this same time (yesterday, actually!). I don't get flowers for my anniversary, as they are SOOOOO expensive this time of year, but that's okay. I usually get a beautiful bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers on Mother's Day and I love it! Now that the kids are older, they no longer do the Valentine's Day card-thing in school. It's just going to be nice and quiet.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
Sorry about sounding negative - I just don't like being told at the last minute I HAVE to do something by my kids' schools.
I think Valentine's Day is one more example of wasteful, excessive, pointless consumerism and hype, that contributes to the stress and busyness of modern life. When I picked up my 4th grade boy from school, it is snowing like crazy, and he says "We have to go to CVS mom, the teacher says I have to bring valentines for everyone in my class". I just get so aggravated at schools. This is a private Christian school, and not Catholic, so they are not celebrating St. Valentine. I explained to him that no, he did not have to bring in valentines, and if the teacher said something to him, tell her to talk with me. He thought he had to go buy the commercial valentines and then candy too. I explained to him about frivolous excuses to pressure people into spending money for no good reason. I get pretty annoyed at times with these schools, and how they are teaching our children the skewed and dysfunctional pointless and excessive materialism. My son admitted he thinks Valentine's Day is dumb. I told him he could choose what to do. At first, he wasn't going to do them at all, but now he is making homemade ones from construction paper. He has also decided to ask his dad to bring home some candy from the grocery store for the Valentine's. I think I may write a letter to the school, encouraging them to simplify things. They go crazy for every single holiday, sending home bags of really junky plastic trinkets and candy. There are like 10 - 12 class parties a year, for every holiday imaginable, with a committee of 4-5 parents per party, with crafts, games, food, etc, etc. I guess at age 50 I feel as though I am past all of this, and it just complicates life, and is teaching the kids values of materialistic excess.
Last edited by jlroussin; 2-13-12 at 7:50pm.
Love this!Originally Posted by redfox
DH got me a card and I got him nothing
Hallmark is pretty good at making people feel crappy . . . when they don't buy stuff!
Inflation.... LOL
My husband already knows I neither want nor expect anything on this -- or any -- "Hallmark Holiday," where the greeting card cabals reign. We often choose the most unromantic thing we can think of to do on this day. Monster truck rally, a museum lecture on slime molds, etc., in protest. Though one year I did make pancakes in the shape of a heart. Took him a while to notice.
A museum lecture on slime molds sounds perfect - we're the couple who went to a special museum exhibit on frogs for our 25th wedding anniversary!
DH and I exchanged our undying love for each other just like every other day. He often says rather proudly that "every day is Valentine's Day at our house." Oh, and we exchanged acorns, so take THAT Hallmark!
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