Eeeeeek!

[pameladean]

Oh dear. None of my sweeties does Valentine's Day, and some are violently opposed to the whole idea. The way David says, "Hallmark holiday" is especially telling. So Lydia and I started a tradition of giving one another flowers for Valentine's Day, even though we are not one another's sweetie. Last year my order got screwed up and I never managed to straighten it out or even get the charge off my credit card (*gnaw*); and this year I clean forgot. Until now. Have ordered bulb garden from Bachman's. It will be delivered tomorrow. If she's gone I'll be here and can sneak it into her office.

(No, she hasn't given me anything yet, but I expect to trip over a cyclamen or a pot of primroses at any moment.)

Eeeeek. Brain and brain, what is brain?

Pamela

Comments

V-Day

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

When I was the sort of teenage girl who intimidated teenage boys, I called it "Singles' Awareness Day".

Oddly, it's rarely a blip on the radar, after almost seven years with my hunny. I bought Ranj a 29 gallon aquarium and stand this afternoon, for Valentine's Day. Romantic, eh? This one will have a ruined-temple theme.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

certain people in my house who are not either myself or the dog have referred to "hallmark day", however, i did end up with a raincheck for dinner next week when he's not sick and a rugby shirt. (tonight, we had mcdonalds. how romantic.)

[supergee.livejournal.com]

We do Valentine's day, but I can sympathize with those who say, "Hallmark holiday." Or as Robert Heinlein said about Mother's Day, an excuse to peddle the sexual organs of plants.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

See, I've always had a problem with RAH's comment about Mother's Day because, unlike the rest of the family days, Mother's Day was a recognized holiday long before Hallmark got involved - like all ancient (and modern) practices of honouring mother-goddesses, or more recently (since the middle ages or so) "Mothering Sunday" which is the fourth Sunday of Lent which was to honour Mary, but gradually changed to a day for honouring all mothers. It's Father's Day, Grandparent's Day, First-Cousin-Twice-Removed Day, etc. that Hallmark (et al) made up in order to sell more cards.

As for Valentine's Day - I usurp the day away from romantic love and use it as a day to make a fuss of those in my life without significant others and remind them that despite the lack of romantic love, that they are loved very much - on a day when everything else seems determined to remind us how very single we are.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I was at best dimly aware of this tradition. Thank you for enlightening me. The current version still seems trashy and commercial to me, but so in part are all the holidays. One of the things I love my mother for is teaching me that Mother's Day is a commercial shuck.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I took all the candy I had bought for someone else and ate it myself (well, actually there *was* a logical reason for that, involving logistics rather than sob stories), and also made pepparkakor hearts.

[pameladean]

I am more of David's mind than not, really. But it was a nice bonding thing for Lydy and me to do when we first moved in together and were a bit wary and anxious. And it is nice, in a poly web or whatever this is, to acknowledge the people one is not actually sleeping with but who are a part of one's life just the same. Now it's such a habit that I've forgotten to do it on time. And so has she, I suspect. Hee. I can't wait to see her face. *snicker*.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Hallmark holiday, sure. Crass "red and pink and hearts" marketting opportunity? Yes, that, too.

But I mailed a handful of valentine cards to friends afar, and I have gotten phone calls and SMS text messages and e-mails from some of them yesterday and today telling me how fabulously they are grinning and how glad they are that I thought of them.

Given all this joy that radiates around sending Valentines, I find it very sweet to tell people I like them. They like hearing it, too.

K.

Crassly marketed holidays

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I look at the Winter Solstice holiday much the same way. Sure it would be nice if we loved our fellow man all year round instead of just briefly in Dec, and told her more often than just Feb. 14, but what the heck. Some is better than none.

Pamela: I'm still catching up on the LJ I missed while in Boston so if this is covered later, I'll get to it, but if not, did Lydy remember?

MKK