Happy Valentine’s Day (almost)! Love is in the air, or at least all the cheesy greeting cards, candy and sappy love movies are making me think that’s the case. Whether you’re five years old handing out little cards to everyone in your class, a young adult who follows tips on swingers advice or 50 years old giving a single card and some flowers to your one true love, there’s just something about February 14th that can’t be denied as a great day to celebrate love. Buy why? What’s the point of celebrating on that day? Why not every day?
Stacy and I don’t do a lot of the commercialized holidays. That just not how we roll. That’s partially why we’ve spent several of these “Five Minutes On…” videos talking about holidays. However, Valentine’s Day is a little different. While retailers want to convince you it is all about spending a ridiculous sum on jewelry, candy and flowers on one single event, Valentine’s Day is a pretty decent reminder of our ongoing call to love one another. As Christians living in a deeply evil world, this is a reminder we need CONSTANTLY. For non-Christians, this is still good advice. I don’t know that anyone can honestly say, “I sure wish I would have loved people less.” Maybe that person exists, but I surely don’t want to meet him/her.
Anyway, back to my point – LOVE. Even though there is a single day dedicated to its celebration, love is something we should practice every day. I’m blessed to have a wife that loves me and shows it every single day without fail. She is my constant companion. She lets me sleep by her side (no couch for me!). We study, learn and play together. She is a mother, teacher and caregiver for our children. She even does the traditionally domestic stuff like cooking my meals, washing and ironing my clothes, etc. All this is a demonstration of her love. Notice, there wasn’t a single mention of jewelry, candy or flowers in there… She was a little more specific in how she handles Valentine’s Day when she wrote a couple of years ago about five ways to show your husband love.
As you get closer to that overly-expensive, hyper-commercialized day that encourages you to indulge in your sweetheart – DO IT. Indulge him/her. Have a conversation and LISTEN. Write an actual love letter…by hand. Spend a few minutes praying together. Display just enough lovey-dovey affection in front of the kids so they give that, “eww, gross” look. Practice couples communication exercises together. It will mean a lot more than candy or flowers, and probably more than anything else you could find in a store.
Want to know more about how we feel about love? It’s all below, compressed into roughly five minutes. 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day!
One final thought: I’d sure love to read your stories about how you’ve celebrated this holiday. Leave a comment with your sappy story or creative ideas of ways you can show love every day.
I knew you had snow on your date night and so I thought of you on mine this past Saturday…it was BAD. I think maybe we are almost out of money & salt around these parts and so on the weekends they wait until it is done. The plows finally went by and we went a mile up the street to the Italian place. It was great because it’d been too long. It’s wonderful to just take that time and not worry about the kids.
Growing up my mom would always buy us little chocolates and valentines day socks. Just as a little reminder of her love for us. Now that I am older and Still single (but lovin’ it woo!) We joke about not getting socks!
Great video! Stacy you crack me up!! My honey and I have been married for almost 20 years and we agree with you. We should show our love everyday. We also need to tell each other WHY we love them. A friend of ours gave us an idea that we have really enjoyed. Frame a piece of paper that says “I love you because…and then use a dry erase marker to write notes on the glass. I have enjoyed seeing all the things my husband has come up with. This one was prompted by a discussion we had last night. I know he likes to come home to a clean house but this homeschooling mom of a 7th grade daughter and kindergarten twin boys doesnt always get to the house LOL! I love that he has expressed to me that coming home to ME means more to him than coming home to a clean house! It is also great for my daughter to see these notes back and forth. (we are sure to keep them appropriate for her young eyes LOL) It also keeps us focused on the positive things about each other instead of the little things that bug us. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Love to you all!!
I’ve seen something like that on Pinterest – I think it’s a great idea!
We went to Pizza Hut and shared an ten dollar pizza. I had already budgeted money for the babysitter. (It has been MONTHS since we went on a date.), my husband bought a travel scrabble game at Good Will for $1, and all the words we used had to refer to our love, or each of us. So funny what kind of words came up! That was a pretty fhrifty date if you ask me. We had budgeted for every single thing, and played scrabble for an hour and a half, and had several people look in on our game wondering what we were doing. 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day to you both!
That sounds like a super fun date idea! Thanks for sharing!
We don’t “do” Valentine’s Day either. Love is an every day thing, not a once a year thing. =)
To Stacy- I enjoy watching the wrinkles go away, too. It gives you a good feeling! I just don’t have time to iron. =)
To Barry- Thank you for using “toque”! I can’t stand listening to people call the hat a “toboggan” (live in S. IN, but grew up in VT). A toboggan is a sled! =)
Love how “real” you guys are.
Well, you really want to know what I think??? Here it goes, I love the day. My dad was disappointed I wasn’t born on that day, but a few days later!!!:) So, with that in mind, we eloped just 6 days after my birthday which is a few days after Valentine’s day, which was my husband’s idea, so he wouldn’t forget any of them. So, can I tell you how many times he has forgotten one of them??? I’m just laughing, because as I have aged, I know he loves me and shows me everyday! It’s an extra day to say “I love you” which not one of says enough to each other! Thanks, Stacy!
Great Video! My husband isn’t a romantic, but he is an amazing man/father/husband by way of action. I’d take his acts of service any day over romantic gestures! We do dates instead of gifts! Love the “Respect the kiss” comment 😉 May have to borrow that!
We don’t really do valentines day either…honestly growing up my parents celebrated it by it being an extra day to love on us as their kids! We woke up to little valentines day treats at our spot on the breakfast table as well as a card from my Mom. As we got older she wrote beautiful letters to us. Thats how we’ve chosen to celebrate it too as I believe in showing love everyday to my Husband! I’ve got Valentines day cards for Mac (4.5) to make for friends/cousins/grandparents and some valentines treats to put as his breakfast seat to be surprised by when he wakes up! We’ve also got felt to make a cute banner 🙂 But thats’ mostly for me 😉
Hey Stacy. We are not alike in ironing, though:)! I love it when I just finished ironing Jonathan’s shirts, though. Does that count?
As long as you feel the satisfaction of seeing the wrinkles go away, then yes!
Stacy, you’re hilarious! “Lovey Dovey stuff makes me wanna yak” LOLOL!
loved the video!! no sound issues or anything (I know Barry was concerned).. honest, real, and to the point!! 🙂
That’s how we roll. 🙂
My husband and I saved our first kiss for our wedding day. ( By God’s grace, the sure knowledge that kissing is the “gateway drug”, a desire to obey 1 Timothy and and several hundred miles between us for the last few months between the wedding….) We kiss long in front of our kids and said, “Respect the kiss! If it weren’t for this, you wouldn’t be here.” Without fail, little ones try to worm their way in between us and it is a delight to hear their older sibling train them to “Respect the kiss.” =)
I love that!!!