Making the Most of it!

A fair few people say Valentine's Day gets more and more commercial every year. That its not about love, its about the big guys making money off hearts and chocolates and roses. Maybe you're different? I'm different. Commercialisation, Schmommercialisation!

Personally, I almost never go to shopping malls. I know that I love new things, and I know just as well that I have a very decent personal loan that needs my money more than a chain store does, so I avoid them. I also know that I can't trust myself ! I'm an impulse shopper, not by nature but by necessity! I hate going through rack after rack, store after store. I don't like sales assistants, I don't like getting changed a thousand times, and I don't like crowds (not so much the crowd but the people in my way).

I am a failure as a woman, because despite my love of new things (shoes, oh how I love shoes!) I hate shopping malls. Online shopping, can do! Grocery shopping, love it! But the act of 'shopping' usually occurs about once a year, and almost always cause I planned it with Soul Buddy. Since I don't go shopping, I don't see Valentines specials, I don't get pestered, and I don't succumb to commercialisation. I don't even see ads on TV because we have MySky and I fast forward through them!

OK, so I think you get the point! A holiday or event can only be commercialised if you respond to the advertising and gimmicks. Nothing is to stop you baking your loved one a treat, cleaning the house while they're out, cooking them dinner or writing them a note. And this is why I love Valentines Day. I don't celebrate it every year, but I love the idea of it. I love romance and I love that aside from your anniversary, there is a day set aside purely for your loved one to love you more. A day for you to tell not only your partner, but your entire inner circle that they make your world go round.

Back in school we used to have Rose Day, did you? Where a team of students spent hours collecting orders and on Valentines Day those same students went class to class delivering a long stemmed red rose to students who were the recipients of those orders. You never knew if you were getting a rose. In fifth form I did and I don't care how embarrassing it was to have to get up in front of everyone to receive it, I felt special, because someone made the effort, for me.

That's all it is really, isn't it? That someone chose you, over everyone else in the world, to make a fuss of. Does it have to be done with overpriced, heart shaped trinkets? I'm 99% sure that Courts will do nothing for me for Valentines this year. I will probably reciprocate the gesture! But we will slow down and spend some real time together, and remind each other that we have each chosen one other person in the world to share our entire selves with. I for one, am rather happy with the choice I made.

Do you get involved in the hype? Or do you hate the day with a passion?