Is Valentine’s Day a real holiday?

Valentine’s Day is another one of those occasions that demands a card, almost as much as does a birthday, and perhaps even more so than Christmas.
Never having been big on sending greeting cards (if it’s noteworthy enough, I’ll write a letter. And yes, I still do write letters to people when I feel one is appropriate.), I, to this day, shake my head when our daughters send Valentine’s Day cards to my wife.
Isn’t she my Valentine?
I never sent Valentine’s Day cards to my mother. That was my father’s assignment.
*According to the National Retail Foundation, men spend about twice as much as women on gifts for Valentine’s Day.
—Metro Creative Connection
To me, sending a Valentine card to my mother would be akin to my mom sending me a card on my father’s birthday.
However, our middle daughter does send flowers to my wife on her (daughter’s) birthday, with a note attached that simply says, “Mom, thank you for this day.”
We don’t know where she got this idea, but she started when she was a teenager and has continued into her mature adulthood, never missing a year (If the florist’s associations ever get up and running with this inspiration, it could quadruple their business).
*About 60 percent of men who give Valentine gifts will buy flowers.
— National Retail Foundation
Unlike other “gift” occasions, Valentine’s Day is not as open-ended as Christmas, anniversaries, or birthdays. (I once got a nice, 16-ounce hammer for Christmas.) We seem to be locked into a few traditional Valentine’s gifts—candy, flowers, dinner, and of course the requisite card. Don’t forget the card!
I don’t think men care about cards, at least nowhere near as much as do women. (Ever notice how many women own card shops?) That begs the question—why?
Men, do you believe your sweethearts would be pleased if, instead of a store-bought card with a store-bought sentiment, you sat down (or stood, if that’s your preference) and penned a personal letter, containing your own personal sentiment?
Our culture somehow doesn’t see that as romantic as a colored piece of four-page, folded cardboard with a commercially stamped set of cartoon characters on the front, and a banal, rhyming greeting on page three.
(Let’s see a show of hands now. How many of you do not look at the price on the bottom of page four? I believe the showing would be small. To paraphrase Thornton Wilder’s narrator in “Our Town,” the group would perhaps include only “saints and poets.”)
*After flowers, cards are a close second on the list of most popular Valentine gifts, followed by a night out in third place, with candy finishing a glucose-raising fourth.
— National Retail Foundation
Valentine’s Day may appear to be one of those innocuous little pseudo-holidays (I’d say faux holiday, but I promised myself I’d never use such a faux word as faux), but it’s a significant one nonetheless. Just overlook the flowers, candy, dinner, and card, and the day’s essential nature becomes immediately clear.
*Americans spend more than $15 billion every year for Valentine’s Day.
— National Retail Foundation
Looking at the day objectively, it pays to add your two cents to that $15 billion and at least get a card for your beloved.
And if you want to include a nice little hand-written note, that would be thoughtful. It could only add a little class.
But please; no e-mails!