Why I DON'T Hate Valentine's Day

You think I'm going to say it's because of the gifts, don't you? 'Cause that's a Kim-type response. But actually, no, it's not the gifts. Chocolate = guilt. Flowers = mess (okay, so they're gorgeous for a few days before that part, but still, it's one more thing to have to deal with, you know?). Jewelry = I-hope-you-didn't-spend-too-much-on-that-because-it's-not-my-style-and-I'm-too-polite-to-tell-you.

VanderVision Tip of the Day: When buying prezzies for your favourite geek-girl, you can't go wrong with book store gift certificates. Or superhero socks. Or things made out of scrabble tiles. Just sayin'.

No, what I luuuurve about Valentine's Day is how awesomely flexible it is. In fact, it's a lot like every other day of the year. IT'S WHAT YOU MAKE IT. And yesterday, as I watched my Facebook feed fill with people being awesomely sweet or romantic or crafty (and other people complaining about THOSE people), I thought, Hey, that's awesome. Look what that person did. I didn't do that, and I probably never will do that, but I can sit back, throw some metaphorical applause their way (is there such a thing? 'Cause I totally just made that up), and say, rock on. ROCK ON.

In the Vander-Household, we do our own thing. Daddy comes home from work wearing his black suit, a red bowtie and matching cummerbund, and a top hat. Oh yes, you read that right, a TOP HAT. He gives all five of the ladies in his life a little gifty, we have one of our favourite meals (lasagna usually), and then Daddy dances with each of his girls in turn while Mommy laughs at their antics and takes a lot of blurry pictures.

Yep. It's our thing. It works for us.

And this is one of the most awesome things about getting older. You learn just how much room envy and guilt take up in your life, you look 'em squarely in the eye and say, ''Get stuffed. I don't have room for you anymore.''