There’s no shame in loving Valentine’s Day
For being a holiday meant to celebrate love, Valentine’s Day seems to catch a lot of hate vibes.
A radio show debate this morning had my blood pressure soaring as I listened to random men bash the holiday and blame greeting card companies for raising their wives’ expectations of them. Single ladies got in on the bashing too. I was appalled. I confess, I love Valentines Day. Not for the flowers or the chocolate or for fancy dinner dates. I love it for the actual Valentines!
For me, Valentine’s Day has little to do with romance. My best Valentine’s memories are of sitting at Grandma Peggy’s kitchen table with a stack of pink construction paper, a bottle of Elmer’s School Glue, paperdoilies and lots and lots of glitter. She taught me how to lightly fold my construction paper in half and cut an “ice cream cone” shape along the fold to create the perfect heart. She taught me how to draw a pattern with glue, dump the glitter on top and then shake off the excess to reveal a beautiful, glittering Valentine. And she only complained a little about how it took months to get the glitter out of the carpet.
Maybe you didn’t make paper Valentine’s with your grandma, but I’m certain you (you big Valentine’s hater!) made a mailbox out of a shoebox and received dozens of little squares of perforated paper taped to rolls of smarties and little plastic bags of fruit snacks. Remember how great that was?
So why all the hate? Why is everyone bashing the “Hallmark Holiday.” Why are people so upset with Hallmark? Here’s a company that saw an obscure but lightly celebrated holiday and morphed it into a huge profit margin. And what’s so wrong with that? Do the tortilla chip and salsa makers not do the same thing with Super Bowl Sunday? Surely we are no more required to eat chili and queso dip on Super Bowl Sunday than we are to send a glittery card on Valentine’s Day. So back off of Hallmark, folks.
Even if you do feel Valentine’s Day is nothing more than a corporate scheme, it still has merit. Imagine all of the people whose jobs are directly linked to valentines. The woman who rings up your card purchase, the man who delivered the cards to the shelves. The people who work in the card printing factory and the folks who make the adhesive stuff on the flap of the envelop. WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO WORK IN PAPER DOILY FACTORY?? There’s a long chain of people counting on your Valentine purchases.
And don’t forget the mailman who will deliver your Valentine to the appropriate mailbox. If you think of no one else, think of the mailman. Its the only time of year that the envelopes he delivers are pretty shades of pink and red. Don’t cheat the mailman.
So this Valentine’s Day, try to keep those hate vibes at bay and find a way to make the holiday yours, even if it has nothing to do with flowers and candy! There’s no shame in loving Valentine’s Day.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a big stack of construction paper waiting to be cut into hearts. Don’t worry, I’m still buying cards at Hallmark too. I wouldn’t cheat the mailman.
Later Alligators – Mags
PS – If you leave comments on my blog between now and Valentine’s Day, I’ll add you my Valentine mailing list : )
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