Christmas Holidays are behind us, New Years resolutions are beginning to fade (yeah I can be a cynic) and now we are rushing into Valentines Day, school for the kids, back to work, and argh did someone say Valentines Day.
No pressure people, no pressure at all, but besides young lovers who seem to know what to do, what are married couples supposed to do with Valentines Day. Isn't this just rank commercialism designed to part a fool and his money. While commercialism is certainly part of how our culture celebrates love, your celebration of each other's love need not be. Here are some different ways you can celebrate your love for each other not just on Valentines Day but on any day of the year. The key is to invest time and energy into the quality of your relationship and to also use events like Valentines Day to remind you to invest in each other, to declare to each other and reaffirm to each other your love.
- Go to a local rose garden together and gather all the spent rose petals you can (not the dead ones) and place them into a basket. Go home and together sprinkle the petals and otherwise decorate your bedroom to create a love-nest. Select your favourite background music and set it playing. Get a bunch of post-it-notes each and write a different reason you love your partner on each note. Take turns to read your messages to each other. Then not so finally, grab some massage oil and set about giving each other a stress release full body massage.
- Pack a picnic tea complete with a poetry book and or Bible. Drive to your favourite beach or park (or just pick one that looks good) and then go for a slow stroll together, bodies touching, arms around each other's back. As you walk begin sharing with each other why you love and respect them so much. Be sure to dig deep and trust that you will have great things to say. If in doubt that you can't easily come up with things to say, get out some paper well before your date, and then write one reason you love your mate each day. Be specific in your expression of love. After your walk enjoy your picnic and then take time to read poetry together. Finish off your time proposing a toast to each other of what you wish for them in the coming year.
- Sit down as a couple and remember all your firsts. First place you kissed, first place you went out for a date, first holiday, first motel, and so on. Then set about revisiting those places and remembering and sharing the stories from each one. Turn this into a project that you will work on over the next few months or longer, visiting a place, or completing an activity each month. This is a great way to rekindle your love. After knocking your list over, why not write a new list of firsts of things you would like to do together but have never tried and then over the next three months set about doing them together.
