My Take On Valentine's Day and Why Thanksgiving is Better

I've never been a fan of Valentine Day's. Even when I did celebrate it, I always thought it was a ridiculous holiday. If you love someone, you should be showing that more than once a year.

It's a commercialized holiday that puts stress on everyone. If you don't have a Valentine, then you feel bad. If you do have one, then you have to figure out what to buy them. If you're a gal, in particular, people will want to know if you have a Valentine or what your significant other gave you on Valentine's Day. I swear the only other people who care about this are other women. "Other women" in general are the worst. They are the same women who want to know if you're married or not, will you have kids or not, or ask you any other stupid, domestic-related questions.

If you're a guy, you have to buy whatever it is that you think is a good Valentine's Day present and hope the girl will like it. And if you're a guy in a long-term relationship, you've probably totally forgotten it's Valentine's Day and are scrambling at the last minute to buy something or you're figuring out dinner reservations.

What a waste of energy for everyone.

I actually had a great Valentine's Day last year. It was the first time I had celebrated the holiday in four years. Yes, FOUR YEARS. Believe me, four years is a long-ass time not to date anyone at all. I would not recommend it. I have a good excuse though. I moved to another state, another country and back here. It wasn't like I was sitting around not doing anything.

My ex-boyfriend and I had just started going out and we were hanging out the weekend prior to the holiday. While we were at the grocery store, he kept asking me what time I was getting off work. In fact, he asked me twice, which I thought was really odd that I had to repeat myself.

Anyways, I get home from work, drove into the garage and while I'm shutting the garage door, he comes out of nowhere. I can't remember what he said, but I just remember being extremely startled and saying "Oh my gawd." Yep, there he was on my doorstep, waiting for me with two balloons that had "I Love You" (which kind of freaked me out) printed on them. It was awesome. I still have the balloons even though we're not going out anymore. We couldn't go to dinner because I was taking my last class in a master's program that I started six years ago (extremely lucky they let me finish the program) and I had a paper that was due at midnight.

I don't get presents from boyfriends that often so they always mean a lot to me. I really don't care how much they cost or what is given to me. I'm not one of those girls, I guess. Re-living my past Valentine's Day today is painful though in the sense that it does remind me once again that we're not together anymore. Sigh.

I was listening to the radio a few days ago on my way to work and this DJ said that 70 percent of women who are in relationships are dissatisfied with what their significant others give them on Valentine's Day. I'm thinking, "Wow, I was so incredibly excited that I got two balloons." Clearly, I have low expectations when it comes to Valentine's Day presents. I mean no need to roll out the red carpet for me, I'll take anything. I do have high expectations when it comes to other matters though. This year, of course, I didn't get anything but I got lots of unhealthy snacks since I work at a school so that made it slightly better.

All in all, I would say that Thanksgiving is a much better holiday in general. Everyone eats, we give thanks, watch football, sleep, go shopping, etc. Less stress. No one needs a date or to buy presents. Talk about making things easier on ourselves.