Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My Rant on Cupid's Holiday

(If you are not interested in my rant, please read the last paragraph in which I solicit your aid.)

I guess I will start with the good stuff first. I love Valentine's Day. I think hearts and love and pink are great. I decorate and get excited for the kids. I try and think of something special to do or give to Tyler. (Although, he outclassed me this year.)

BUT... (And it's a big one.)

When did Valentine's Day become so commercialized, especially for the kids? Why does every Valentine have to come with candy? Remember when it was nice to receive a card with a cute saying and you didn't have to have a sugar high along with it to appreciate the sentiment? When I was in school, we probably got some kind of treat at the 'class party' but all the Valentines were just cards. It must have started small, when one kid said, "I'm going to put candy with my Valentines and they will be better than everyone else's." And now that is the norm. People, it is almost like Halloween all over again, except you are limited to about 20 pieces of candy, and the occasional tattoo, or pencil. Why is sugar associated with love?

And (did you think I was finished?) what ever happened to homemade Valentines? I sat down with my kids and we made Valentines for their friends. June in particular spent time thinking what each person would like, and it was a good family activity. This is what we came up with. (And you are right, there is no candy involved.)


I won't lie, it was time consuming. Especially the part where Ivory had to make 42 Valentines because she was making them for friends and friends' high school buddies. But she did such an excellent job. She only let me color about five of hers; all the rest she did herself. After helping with almost 90 Valentines between the three kids, I can see how it would be nice to just get the store bought kind, but I felt good about the time we spent. I was interested to see what the kids would bring home. Want to guess how many homemade Valentines there were? None; zero. I was amazed! People, you could even print out your own unique saying or picture and that counts as homemade. Of course, it doesn't come with the essential candy.

I would like to state here that I am not judging you as individuals, since based on current statistics, you probably bought Valentines for your kids. I have done it before too. I am judging this holiday as a whole now. I am missing the originality and thought that used to be put into a message sent to someone you like, or love. Granted that doesn't exactly count in second grade. The kids are required to give one to every person in the class, and I understand the logic behind that. June and Robyn both asked if they could exclude one person off their lists and I naturally told them 'No'. But the point is, I miss the creative love. Now we get the pre-packaged-sugar-preserved variety.

Okay, I think I am done. We had a good Valentine's Day, all things considered. I sprang for donuts again, but I am rethinking that for next year, because why start the kids on sugar when they are going to inhale it all day. Do you think they have heart shaped sausage or wheaties? (Okay, now I am really done.)


The kids had a good time, and Tyler and I celebrated our love by getting Netflix. So I need your help. Since we never go out to movies, I don't even know what I have missed. Please think of the last three movies that you've enjoyed and leave a comment. I need a good list to fill my queue. Even if they are older movies that you liked, you can tell me those too. Thanks for sharing the love.

13 comments:

Heather A said...

We just watching "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof." Both Christian type movies with a good moral. I may not be the best one to ask though because I usually don't like (or dare go to) new movies coming out. I really enjoy watching British comedies on Instant Play like "All Creatures Great and Small" and "As Time Goes By."

Emma Jo said...

Adorable valentine's but I agree, I have never seen so much candy from a V day party before.
I LOVE netflix. My sister is always giving me completely obscure recommendations of random movies. Some good recents that we have seen are the HBO John Adams series, awesome. Inception, a good one. Grey Gardens (the real documentary and then the movie made with Drew Barrymore...you have to watch the documentary first to appreciate how accurate and crazy it all is!) I do a lot of BBC series too, especially when Clark is out of town-Northanger Abbey, North and South, Jane Austen movies. Ooh, speaking of Jane Austen there is one called Lost in Austen that is cute too.
Happy movie watching!
On tonight's docket, Amadeus.

Desmama said...

Second the vote for "Inception." Really liked that one. I've got "Temple Grandin" waiting to be watched right now; I have high hopes for it. It's probably not available on NetFlix yet, but when it comes, True Grit is good. I liked it. ;) I watched The Social Network last week and it was interesting, esp. with everything going on in Egypt. But there are a few parts that might be questionable (sexual, drug use, etc.).

skye said...

We have had Netflix for years, and we LOVE it! Especially now that it has Instant movies, since we don't have broadcast tv either. We've been able to watch lots of good tv series, like Bones and Monk, without having to wait for the dvds!
As for movies, if you haven't seen all the animated movies, ie Despicable Me, TinkerBell, How to Train Your Dragon, Barbie, those are great for the kidlets. I can't think of a lot of big people movies right now, but we just watched Eat, Pray, Love; and Letters to Juliet. Have fun!

Trudy Ann said...

the young victoria was very good, and i am a sucker for (really) old movies so i really like bringing up baby, desk set, and the philidelphia story.

Deanne said...

I'll have to be thinking of movies to recommend. As far as Valentine's Day goes, I am guilty as charged (and I know what you mean about the good ol' days. I remember getting a homemade card in an envelope with two or three conversation hearts in it). Your post really made me want to do homemade cards next year (we'll see how that goes).

p.s. Your homemade ones really stood out because as David was looking at this post he said, "Those are like Ivory's valentines" I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have said the same thing about a store bought Spiderman valentine.

Unknown said...

We don't go to many movies either around here. Usually it's red box and usually it's an action film for BT or a family film for the boys. I did watch The Holiday on TV the other night and remember seeing it before. I still liked it!

Cute Valentine cards. I bought the box of cards that come with candy this year, that's how into it I am.

The Simpson Times said...

Good movies....
For a romance - letters to juliet
For an action - unstoppable
Mark recently saw the social network and really liked it.

Kayla said...

I love your idea of home made valentines! I think it's way better, and you don't even need a treat when you've put that much thought into them! :)

As for movies, I don't really see alot of movies, and most of the ones I do see are with Jessie and Meriam and therefore "girly" movies. But I really like Leap Year and The Last Song. They are both a little cheesy and totally chick-flicks, but they're still good! And who knows, maybe Tyler needs a little more girly-ness in his life! :)

Shawn, Ashlee and Addison said...

I've had Netflix for 6 years and what I do to fill my queue is I go to Moviefone.com to see what movies are in theaters that I want to see and put them in there for when they come out to dvd. I also go to the tab that has coming soon to dvd and add the ones I want to see as well! Hope that helps!

Gerb said...

I LOVE the homemade valentines and I wholeheartedly agree that they are better than store bought! My kids and I all made their Valentines for this year, too. It was fun, simple, and some of them incorporated a pencil (because AMEN on the candy thing!).

I also don't get to the movies much, but my favorite that we've rented recently is Despicable Me (it looked so dumb in previews but I loved it).

Natasha said...

Catfish (great VERY interesting documentary) & Blindside are two that I love.

Sharona said...

After reading all of your friend's comments, I've got to be the most boring movie watcher ever. I watch about 3 documentaries a week (oh, I gave netflix to myself for Christmas - best give E=VER!) and 2 inspirational ones. I ran across Forever something about a Rugby coach somewhere in the Provo area and I watch tons and tons and tons of independent and foreign films. I've totally brushed up on german, dutch, chinese, hindi, arabic and spanish. lol...Just go through and find the ones that look good. There are sooooo many good films out there. I did break down and see Gran Torino - again. Cried both times. It is R and the language is atrocious but you just can't beat the change in the man.