Holiday Rumination

I dare you to try and fit the word rumination into conversation tomorrow.

I have a favorite holiday.  That spot used to be occupied by Christmas, until the commitments and complications of adult life knocked it off it's pedestal.  I still love Christmas for its message and meaning, but boy,  what a lot of work!  

I've never been a big fan of Halloween.  There's too much emphasis on candy and too many scary masks for my taste.  We do have a great neighborhood trick-or-treating tradition that I thoroughly enjoy, though. And there was that one year that my 4 year old daughter dressed up as Princess Leia (with a home-made costume) and my 1st grade son as Darth Vader.  You should have seen me trying to get the hair right.  That was a high point.  

The 4th of July is always associated with beer and boating and sunburns for me, and New Year's is just too late at night for me to get into very easily...I'm getting old, I guess. 

So that leaves my favorite:  Valentine's Day.  For me, it's less commercial and cluttered, and focuses on flowers.  I like flowers, especially in February.  We celebrate it as a family holiday, not so much a romantic one.  The kids get small gifts and we have a nice dinner together.  There's no expectation about some large family gathering with extended relatives or some massive and complicated meal to prepare.  It's just our little family enjoying some good food and each others' company.  We like to make valentines for classmates and for the grandparents and uncles.  We put up a few Valentine's Day ornaments and frills around the house as soon as we take down the winter holiday decorations.  It's nice to have something bright and festive to fill that void after the tree and the menorah come down.  Mostly I like the holiday because it's all about remembering to tell others that you love and appreciate them.  Who wouldn't like that...maybe even the best? 

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?