I'm Valentine's Day- Challenged
Valentine's Day is perhaps the most ambivalent of all holidays. People seem either to be absolutely fanatical about it or completely opposed to it. As for me, I neither love it nor hate it: I'm just really really bad at it.
I am a huge believer in "practical gifts". This means I often give totally unsentimental gifts that we need in lieu of something completely superfluous that David wants. For example, this year for our anniversary, I gave David new luggage. (I'll let you insert your own comments about metaphorical irony.)
And one time my friend's boyfriend had to talk me out of buying her a power drill for her birthday because I noticed everything in her apartment was tenuously hung with pin nails. That's how bad I am.
Criticize if you will, but after having a kid, effusive gift giving seems kind of pointless to me. We're living on one income and have a very expensive accessory known as "Jackson", so I tend to see mandatory gift-giving as a perfect time to buy David some new running shoes. (Which actually were one of David's Christmas gifts.)
I blame/credit my upbringing for this sense of holiday frugality. I was raised in the "Bernie Weber School of Finance" which basically says, "Never spend money unless it's absolutely necessary *or if the purse is really fabulous, and even then haggle shamelessly."
The upside to this is that I have a knack for getting everything I buy for super cheap; the downside is that I'm terrible at giving gifts with "meaning". This comes in handy when I'm able to get an $800 dishwasher for $447 (true story) or talking the cable company into knocking $50/month off our bill (also a true story), but it also means that David gets a new work bag for his birthday (also also a true story).
My other handicap is that I was born with a serious pathos-deficiency. I spend every ounce of my demonstrative resources on making sure everything is magical/wonderful for Jackson. But by the time I've exhausted my emotional reserves on my son, David is stuck with a pen for graduation. (Again, true story.)
And since Valentine's Day is entirely defined by arbitrary giving of totally gratuitous material things, I'm at a total loss. (Especially when it comes to the whole flower thing, but that's an entirely different story.)
As for David, he doesn't seem to mind too much anymore. I guess by the time he married me, he'd figured out that I'm completely pragmatic, and he wouldn't be getting any poems or chocolates. And he loves me anyway, even though my idea of a romantic evening is having a Monty Python quote-along.
Now only one question remains: do I get him new socks or a belt?
I am a huge believer in "practical gifts". This means I often give totally unsentimental gifts that we need in lieu of something completely superfluous that David wants. For example, this year for our anniversary, I gave David new luggage. (I'll let you insert your own comments about metaphorical irony.)
And one time my friend's boyfriend had to talk me out of buying her a power drill for her birthday because I noticed everything in her apartment was tenuously hung with pin nails. That's how bad I am.
Criticize if you will, but after having a kid, effusive gift giving seems kind of pointless to me. We're living on one income and have a very expensive accessory known as "Jackson", so I tend to see mandatory gift-giving as a perfect time to buy David some new running shoes. (Which actually were one of David's Christmas gifts.)
 |
| "Merry Christmas, Honey! Now go run somewhere." |
I blame/credit my upbringing for this sense of holiday frugality. I was raised in the "Bernie Weber School of Finance" which basically says, "Never spend money unless it's absolutely necessary *or if the purse is really fabulous, and even then haggle shamelessly."
 |
| *Ok, that last part actually came from "The Mitzie Weber School of Being Fabulous". |
The upside to this is that I have a knack for getting everything I buy for super cheap; the downside is that I'm terrible at giving gifts with "meaning". This comes in handy when I'm able to get an $800 dishwasher for $447 (true story) or talking the cable company into knocking $50/month off our bill (also a true story), but it also means that David gets a new work bag for his birthday (also also a true story).
My other handicap is that I was born with a serious pathos-deficiency. I spend every ounce of my demonstrative resources on making sure everything is magical/wonderful for Jackson. But by the time I've exhausted my emotional reserves on my son, David is stuck with a pen for graduation. (Again, true story.)
And since Valentine's Day is entirely defined by arbitrary giving of totally gratuitous material things, I'm at a total loss. (Especially when it comes to the whole flower thing, but that's an entirely different story.)
 |
| Because nothing says "Eternal Love" like something that's been hacked from a bush and will die in 3 days. |
As for David, he doesn't seem to mind too much anymore. I guess by the time he married me, he'd figured out that I'm completely pragmatic, and he wouldn't be getting any poems or chocolates. And he loves me anyway, even though my idea of a romantic evening is having a Monty Python quote-along.
Now only one question remains: do I get him new socks or a belt?
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