a little letter.

This post is for all of you people out there (and I've met my fair share of them...in fact, for a little while, I was one of them) who think Valentine's Day is the lamest holiday on the planet.

This is an Open Letter To All Valentine's Day Haters:

I love you.

Maybe it's just the candy talking or maybe I overdosed on sour patch kids, white/pink/red m&ms, and carmel filled chocolate (I may have eaten that much candy yesterday...)...because even though it's not Valentine's Day I am going to proclaim my love for you.  I loved you yesterday and I'm saying it today, too.

Oh Dear Valentine's Day Hater,

You do realize that no one said that Valentine's Day is the only day that people are allowed to celebrate their love for each other, right?  People who celebrate Valentine's Day also say 'I love you' in many other ways on all the other days of the year, too.  And for all of you single and unattached people, no one said that Valentine's Day had to be a strictly romantic lovers holiday.

So instead of going with all of the cliched and stereotypical versions of Valentine's day we go with our own version around here.  We make it the holiday we want it to be and now I love Valentine's Day....

For all of you who think it's lame that someone is making you pick one day a year to show your love for your one true love:

1. Decide every Valentine's Day that you will use it as a reminder to give and show love to your one and only true love(s) everyday this coming year.

2. Celebrate more than just your significant other.  Create special memories for the significant people in your life...mom, dad, brother, sister, children, grandma, grandpa, etc.  In your world, change the definition for Valentine's Day. Do something for the people you love that you really wouldn't do the entire rest of the year.  For us, I let my kids eat candy for breakfast on Valentine's day.  And it's a big deal.  They look forward to it every year.  We get all of their favorite candy and cover our kitchen table in it. They get to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

*A couple of other extra special things that we do:  I get up while the kids are still sleeping and with my ninja like stealth I make pumpkin heart shaped muffins (this is something I don't do the rest of the year...the getting up extra early part...). I set the table with all kinds of fun heart festive-ness and write them a love note (I do this everyday of the school year so I try to make it extra long) or some creative version of a love note (this year I got a heart box for each of them and wrote a bunch of little snippets on lots of different colored pieces of paper, each with a sweet thought about them, compliment, or bit of gratitude for them,etc.).

For those of you who think you can't celebrate Valentine's Day unless you have a significant other: 

Valentine's Day can be the day of the year that you decide to create a day of random acts of kindness or mindful acts of kindness for the people you love like your mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, grandma, grandpa, etc.  They will love your love...even on this forced, lame holiday. :)

Here are some specific ideas:

*choose a service project that you get involved in on every February 14th.

*write letters to thank significant people who shaped your world

*give a surprise visit to someone who doesn't get visitors (a person in a nursing home who has no family or friends that visits them)

*hand out notes of gratitude at work to those you appreciate

Valentine's Day can be whatever you want it to be.  There are no set rules as to how Valentine's Day has to be done...and if you think that there are set rules then it's time to break them...or you can just keep hating Valentine's day. :)

the end.

(steps off soap box)

(*gotta love that we are mixing holiday decor around here...the girls' birthday party decorations are still up, too!)