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Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, but as you might be able to guess, Jon and I don’t really do anything for Valentine’s Day. The holiday does mean one thing: candy hearts. The weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day are the only time of the year I can find them. Their close companion Necco Wafers just aren’t the same. So I suppose one might say Jon gets me a Valentine’s Day present, because he usually buys me candy hearts.
However, even this practice has two exceptions that probably exclude it as a Valentine’s celebration. First: Jon usually brings home candy hearts when they’re first available, which is late January. I tend to have the treat at least three weeks before the romance holiday. Second: in the past, proper candy hearts have been difficult to find.
Whoever finds the candy hearts, buys the candy hearts. If I find them before Jon, I buy them for myself. I suppose I could say that they’re still a Valentine’s gift — one that I buy for myself, weeks before the actual day.
Nope, Valentine’s just isn’t a big deal around here. In fact, here are some notable Valentine’s Days in our relationship (assume nothing of note, including gifts or dates, happened on the unlisted years):
February 14, 2004: Our first Valentine’s Day. We might have actually done something special, considering that this was our first Valentine’s together and we were a bit soppier back then. But it was Little Siblings weekend at our college and my brother visited. So we hung out with him instead.
February 15, 2005: We actually did go out to a restaurant. But it was before either of us had a car, so we’d basically used the holiday as an excuse to get off campus by wheedling a car away from Jon’s parents, who lived nearby. And as you can see, we did so on the day after Valentine’s Day.
February 14, 2007: This one was cool. A snow and ice storm hit town the night before so classes were canceled. Jon and his roommates ventured off-campus to buy sleds and he brought me back flowers. That’s probably the only gift either of us gave the other for Valentine’s. But I still spent most of the day without him, playing in the snow with my roommates.
February 14, 2009: Our first Valentine’s as a married couple. My two best friends visited for the weekend. On Valentine’s Day the four of us went out to eat for lunch at a Korean restaurant. It was awesome.
February 14, 2010: I visited Jon’s older sister Alyssa for the weekend. Jon didn’t come. We chose this weekend because that year, President’s Day and Valentine’s Day fell around the same time, so that way we had a long weekend. Also, a movie that Jon’s younger sister wanted to see came out then, so Alyssa, her husband, and I took her on a dinner/movie date. Then Alyssa and I spent the rest of the weekend baking cookies and watching Disney movies. Jon went to a LAN (computer game) party on Valentine’s Day.
As you can see, Valentine’s Day just isn’t special in our household. I guess it could become so. Date nights aren’t a big deal for us because it’s just the two of us; anytime we want to go out to eat or whatever could be construed as a date night. Once we have children, I suppose they’ll take on greater importance. However, I still think we’d choose a random night, rather than February 14, so that way we don’t have to deal with crowds.
Related Articles:
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12 Creative Date Night Ideas That Won’t Break the Budget
*(This image by terren in Virginia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
