Skip to main content

Why married people need Hallmark holidays...more than ever!


My husband Brad has always firmly maintained a strict "no Hallmark holidays" stance.  Especially when it comes to Valentine's Day.  When we were hot and heavy in the early days (literally hot and heavy - post-University chub and excessively sweaty - not pretty), he would declare proudly, "why does anyone need to remind me to love and treat you special on one day of the year when I love and treat you special everyday?" "Wow, what a hopeless romantic!", you're likely thinking.  Or, to play devil's advocate here,  "what a hopeless cheapskate trying to avoid buying a V-day gift for yours truly". Thought I'd offer both perspectives for you. 

Anyway, to get back on track, he did sort of have a point.  I say sort of, because when two people are in a fresh-out-of-the-oven romance, every day does feel extra sweet and special.  Flowers "just because they made me think of you", back rubs "just because you work soooo hard selling souvenirs at the CityTV store", hand-written notes of naughtiness "just because sexting technology didn't exist back then"....you get the point.  Fast forward 15 years and here we are - 3 kids, 2 cats, 5 fish, endless taxiing to activities, non-stop heads-spinning, exhausted and run-down, matching sweatshirts with Golden Labs on them (we don't even own a dog!)...this is what married/family life looks like with young kids. 

Now, more than ever we desperately NEED Hallmark holidays.  Come mid-January, that sea of pink heart-shaped cards and candy at the local pharmacy is like a five-alarm fire burning into my listless, weary mind screaming out a relationship S.O.S: "wake up you good for nothin' dead-beat wife - it's almost Valentine's Day and you need all of this pink and red stuff to prove your love!!!!" All of the ads in the newspaper and on TV feature freakishly toned and spray-tanned hunks, on bended-knee, slowly opening blue boxes filled with sparkle, to the delight of a pale waif in a ball-gown cupping her hands over her mouth with an expression of sheer joy, exhilaration and hunger...sadly reminding me that the only blue box I'll be seeing on Valentine's Day contains my discarded recyclables.  Hmph. 

On the hunt for great Valentine's Day ideas, in the hopes of turning my slump around, I found so many really cool, fun, funky and fabulous ideas that do not involve cinnamon hearts.  Soooo many ideas in fact, that I'm going to pass them along to you...in case you're also in a V-Day rut.  You're welcome!!

Watch on February 11th on CTV's Canada AM as I present to you a curated display of fun and fabulous for all three types of love:

1. Innocent/family love
2. Passionate love
3. Married 10+ years/In-the-doghouse love


Stay tuned....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mom's Day: Our one day off and we still end up working

One of my absolute favourite Mother's Day cards can be found on the internet - it shows a woman applying to "Motherhood Inc." and she's reading through the employment contract - "One vacation day a year?!  That's all I get?!" she proclaims.  "We call it Mother's Day but technically you still have to work" says the interviewer.  So true. Every card a Mom gets on Mother's Day preaches the same utopic nonsense - advising Moms to "relax", "kick back", "pamper yourself"...  These cards are typically all written by men.  Have you ever noticed that men have no problem treating themselves to a full day with legs up, beverage in hand and mind empty of thoughts?  They don't even need it to be Father's Day!  It can just be any ol' Wednesday....sadly sometimes, the occasional deadbeat Dad will try and pull this stunt on Mother's Day - not cool.  Men are intrinsically wired to "unwind and chil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stuff this: great gift ideas for stockings!

I'm not one of those TV-types that tries to pretend that I'm all poised and perfect.  In fact, I'll have you know that in my glorious days as a youth, I found many-an-onion (or three) stuffed into my fireside stocking at Xmas.  Can't believe it?  I know...I look like such an angel too...(wink wink).  Nothing says Xmas morn' disappointment like racing down a flight of stairs on the 25th, sleep in your eyes, joy in your heart, pep in your step, only to discover half the produce aisle wedged into your stocking: onions, clementines, an apple, lettuce (I never said my family was normal).  This year, whether you're the primary stocking stuffer for the family or simply looking to stuff some stuff in a single stocking (say that 10 times fast),  I beg you to keep your hands out of the crisper and get a little more creative - after all, sometimes the stocking is the best part of Xmas morning!!  As featured on CTV's Canada AM, here are some really fun, festi...
19 comments
Read more

Not your mother's "Mom Jeans": you know it's all about that bass...

I don't know what's worse, shopping for bathing suits, or shopping for jeans.  Both experiences are right up there with pap-smears and cleaning up vomit on my list of ugh -worthy activities.  Shopping for bathing suits and jeans both leave you frustrated and deflated, shimmying into too-tight or slithering into too-loose fabrics, discovering new areas of your body that have either drooped downwards or disappeared completely off the face of the earth (i.e. my waist and confidence). Ultimately, both have you fleeing the dressing room empty-handed and heading straight for the nearest fro-yo shop for a double-scoop of frozen therapy.  Let's face it, after kids, our bodies just aren't the same as they were pre-kids.  As each of my three boys descended down the birth canal, other body parts followed suit: boobs, bum, waist...they all bought a one-way ticket south from Taut-ville to Mom-ville.  But just because your body is di...
3 comments
Read more