What Valentines day means to me.

We are now only eleven days away from Valentines day so I thought that I would share with you my thoughts on what Valentines day means to me. It is a holiday or celebration that probably receives the most criticism and cynicism each year and I have to be honest it does annoy me when I hear people moaning about it.

To me it is a chance to show the people that you love the most (in my case my husband and my children) how much you care and how loved they are. It is a chance to do activities with the children that are themed around hearts and love which is always so much fun. It is a chance to cook heart shaped pancakes and make heart shaped sandwiches. It is an opportunity to spread a little love and joy so why is that such a bad thing?

The main arguments that I hear at this time of year is how over commercialised it is. The thing is, it is up to each individual as to if they want to spend a lot, a little or nothing at all. You can still join in with celebrating without spending loads of money if you use your imagination. You can make a card from things you already have at home. You can cook a romantic meal at home rather then go out to a fancy restaurant. You could bake cakes, cookies or make home made chocolates. You could give your loved ones the gift of your time, give your partner a massage, do their chores for a week so that they can relax, go for a romantic picnic (weather permitting) or stage an indoor picnic with loads of candles and cushions at night.

If you have the money and you would like to push the boat out to show your love and appreciation to your partner then why not? The choice is yours and the main point is the thoughts behind the cards and gifts.

Of course the other argument is that you should always show your loved ones how much you care and you shouldn't need one day each year to make that happen. Well, my answer to that is I completely agree that in a perfect world we would all make more effort to do such things but in all honesty, when faced with the busyness of living life, when battling with weight, sleepless nights, bills, debts, chores, jobs, toddler tantrums and teen melt downs we can easily forget to show our partners how much we love them as after all we are only human.

So that is why I love and celebrate Valentines day each year. What do you think?