Ugh, its getting to be that time of year again....

[figment1986]

This day is a day of hell... nothing is good about it.

[sunnygirl]

I've always hated Valentine's Day for a multitude of reasons. I've never, EVER had a Valentine's Day that lived up to whatever expectations I had of it. I've always walked away from the "holiday" feeling bitterly disappointed and somewhat hung over.

This year, I am in a sickeningly sweet relationship with a great guy. Maybe it will be different? Who knows.

[Trekkie Dad]

^^^Anders had better read this and take the hint!

[Hakuna Makarla]

I hate valintines candy, ( yeah easter is way better) andI think the daydeserves a swim with the fishes

[ksejr1]

Although I would love to have a wonderful valentines day, mine always suck. I get a gift, but, there's nothing romantic about it. I want romance damn it !!!!

[dsnylndmom]

ugh add me to the ickytines day! All those nasty chocolate in the 2 for 10 dollar boxes of chocolate.....ewwwwwww let me tell you godiva tastes just as good in october! Sephora has even better selections the following month! The only time IVe liked it was in elementary school when we had a vday party and got toms of candy. MAybe this year though Ill join evilfer and stink at olive garden for some white zin.....i think I think Ill get them matching fanny packs and rainbow scrunchies but dont tell!

[stinkerbell]

. I think this year I'll buy matching outfits for me and Stink at Old Navy and then take her to a romantic dinner at the Olive Garden....and buy her a glass of White Zin.

MAybe this year though Ill join evilfer and stink at olive garden for some white zin.....i think I think Ill get them matching fanny packs and rainbow scrunchies but dont tell!

It's a date!! We can get our scrunchies and fanny packs at Wal*Mart!

Happy day!!

[Mac Daddy]

Wow. Until Tui started this thread, I honestly had no idea that so many people HATED Valentine's Day!

I suppose it helps if you have someone that you are madly in love with. And no...you don't have to LIMIT your celebration of that love to Valentine's Day. But what a great day to CELEBRATE that love! If you have someone special and all you feel is pressure to do something romantic, then your day will probably suck. My wife and I have done everything from McDonald's to five star restaurants to walks on the beach, and virtually all of our Valnetine's Day's have been very, very cool. On our first Valentine's Day, when we were still dating, she cut out like 30 hearts and wrote down something different she loved about me on each one. I still have those somewhere.

Could we celebrate on April 15? Sure. Could I surprise her on a different day? Sure. Is that a particulary good idea? Sure. But Valentine's is a day that we have set aside to get away from it all - without the cheap candy and pink balloons - and just celebrate what we have together. I tell my wife that I love her every day. And I like to think that it MEANS something to her every day. But somehow...it RESONATES differently on Valentine's Day. Does that make sense?

Just for fun, it appears that the actual day was NOT created by the card companies:

The History of Saint Valentine's Day

"Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way."

However...

"In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's and now the date is very commercialized. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school."

And thus it became commercialized. So...If Valentine's Day has become a day of cheap candy, stupid looking stuffed animals, pink balloons, a Homer Simpson Valentine's cards, ...maybe change your outlook on what this day could be, and realize that this day has been around for 1700 or so years. It really doesn't have to suck!

The Valentine's Day haters FAR outnumber the Valentine's Day fans so far on this thread. Aside from the three or four who have posted positive comments, does anyone ELSE think Valentine's Day is a GOOD thing?

[Jennidisneyfer]

It's a date!! We can get our scrunchies and fanny packs at Wal*Mart!

Happy day!!

I'm so excited! I think I'll crimp my hair for the occasion.

[stinkerbell]

I'm so excited! I think I'll crimp my hair for the occasion.

Bitchen.

[Jennidisneyfer]

Totally rad.

[Tui]

Wow. Until Tui started this thread, I honestly had no idea that so many people HATED Valentine's Day!

I suppose it helps if you have someone that you are madly in love with. And no...you don't have to LIMIT your celebration of that love to Valentine's Day. But what a great day to CELEBRATE that love! If you have someone special and all you feel is pressure to do something romantic, then your day will probably suck. My wife and I have done everything from McDonald's to five star restaurants to walks on the beach, and virtually all of our Valnetine's Day's have been very, very cool. On our first Valentine's Day, when we were still dating, she cut out like 30 hearts and wrote down something different she loved about me on each one. I still have those somewhere.

Could we celebrate on April 15? Sure. Could I surprise her on a different day? Sure. Is that a particulary good idea? Sure. But Valentine's is a day that we have set aside to get away from it all - without the cheap candy and pink balloons - and just celebrate what we have together. I tell my wife that I love her every day. And I like to think that it MEANS something to her every day. But somehow...it RESONATES differently on Valentine's Day. Does that make sense?

Just for fun, it appears that the actual day was NOT created by the card companies:

The History of Saint Valentine's Day

"Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way."

However...

"In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's and now the date is very commercialized. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school."

And thus it became commercialized. So...If Valentine's Day has become a day of cheap candy, stupid looking stuffed animals, pink balloons, a Homer Simpson Valentine's cards, ...maybe change your outlook on what this day could be, and realize that this day has been around for 1700 or so years. It really doesn't have to suck!

The Valentine's Day haters FAR outnumber the Valentine's Day fans so far on this thread. Aside from the three or four who have posted positive comments, does anyone ELSE think Valentine's Day is a GOOD thing?

I really hope you personally typed all of that, because I didn't read a single word of it.

[NemoZorro]

Valentine's day reminds me of another popular Simpson's holiday - "Love" day.

Gotta go out and get those "love" cards........

[LuvsLilo]

Add me to the hater list. As a single I made a vow that when I had a significant other on V-day I would never flaunt it. I've kept that vow. I started hating this holiday in HS when I would hear conversations like this "Well I want to break up with Johnny and I'm going to after Valentine's day. I would be so embarassed if I didn't have presents/balloons/candy/flowers to carry around that day." Ugh. My husband, on the other hand, loves this holiday. I told him to add up the $$ he would normally spend on V-day and save it for our anniversary. At least our anniversary means something and isn't some superficial holiday.

[pixywingz]

*GASP!* I should have married YOU!!!! lolololol

Nononononono no no no.....

Valentines day is not about crappy pink hearts that taste like pepto bismol and say "bite me" on them....

Valentines day is about surprising your wife at work with a bouquet and wisking her off to someplace romantic.

It's about breakfast at that little seaside restaurant in San Clemente, and a long walk on the beach.

It's candlelight, and music, and cards that you spend two weeks looking for.

It's a good bottle of wine, and the view from the Orange County Mining company at Sunset. Or the Summit House in Fullerton. Or it's a pizza with everything on it when you move into your first house. Even though you're almost broke, you can still light the candles and get a bottle of wine.

Valentines day isn't Target and the Spongebog pieces of paper your kids pass out at school.

Valentine's Day is a state of mind. It's one big fat excuse to be as romantic as you possibly can. And I'm all for that! This, by the way, will be Valentine's Day #17 for us.

So...ditch the pink balloons and cheap candy. You could do the whole day on a single rose. I would agree that Target and Walmart look pretty cheesy. But the day itself can be amazing...