News for the Valentine's Day Scrooge

I have never been able to understand those Valentine's Day Scrooges out there. I guess if you have had bad love-life luck as of late it is permissible to role your eyes at the rose stands and chocolate displays. But I have recently encountered people who are blessed to be surrounded by love and happiness and still grumble about the day. These people are forgetting the underlying reason for celebration: love. And I don't just mean romantic love. Some of my earliest (and best!) memories of Valentine's Day are of discovering a new pair of socks waiting on my plate at the dinner table -- a token of love from mom. I agree, the commercialism and Hallmark holiday is a little over the top.. ok, sickening. Yes, I too avert my eyes and speed walk past the seasonal aisle in Target so I don't have to look at the copious amounts of heart-shaped chocolates and teddy-bears that will soon enter the lives of another couple for a moment's proof of love before being tossed aside. Hallmark wins. Ba-humbug. But the underlying excuse to show love for the people, the world, and simply life around you is too good to pass up. Hallmark and commercialism hasn't stopped us from celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, even though for many, gifts and goodies is all that Christmas is about. A store can stock pile on tacky Christmas gifts and and pass it off as "getting in the christmas spirit". But poor Vday has no long-standing Biblical story and truly WAS invented - there is no denying it is a Hallmark holiday. But that doesn't mean we can't make it something more. So do something fun this weekend to celebrate your love for the people, the world and life around you! I am proud to say Evan and I will be celebrating Valentine's Day this year by making a nice home-cooked meal (as of yet to be determined), playing scrabble and dominoes into the night, and perhaps venturing out to a Shakespeare play on Sunday. And by the way, I'm truly not that righteous - I enjoy my share of the commercial holiday; I'm betting we'll even eat some chocolate : )