Celebrations on a Valentine's Day

 February 14th, many people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special “valentine.” The day of romance we call Valentine's Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century, but has origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalia. 

What amazes me that the male human who majority of them have no sense of planning a romantic evening are thrust upon this celebration. Thus, leading to most of them with a burden and stress for that special day.

We changed the table and our 9 fun ways to celebrate V-day

Uno: The most memorable Valentine's Day I ever had was; when we flipped the whole scenario, and I was supposed to surprise my better half with stuff while he would sit and praise for everything that I did. However, I was expected to act classy and bring out the best in that evening.

This was decided a month before the D-Day, and the man never brought it up or agreed to the above. Result: I thought the ball of surprise is in his court. 

Anyhow, the D-day is around the corner, he reminds me of the "decision", and just then my whole day was put on hold.

Dos: I quickly picked up the phone, asking for reservations at any restaurant, but even with a slack in the economy, these business establishments serving food and drinks were overly booked.

Tres: Anyhow, I thought I just go out and buy some gift and landed up paying double the price for it. Roses were incredibly priced as if they were gold plated, and his favorite cologne was sold out in many stores. My day went in planning stuff and little on my work.

Well serves me right, cause I was the one who asked for that change.

Cuatro: Evening comes, I bring "take out" from a fancy restaurant which took me an hour to get it. 

Cinco: Came home and placed it on an elegant dinnerware stating "I cooked it."

Seis:  Set the table with lights, Gold plated roses, Champagne, and some soft music.

We sat down to eat our "home" cooked meal, to which I repeated umpteen times more to console myself that I had planned out the evening well.

He started to dig in his plate while I watched him and I was hoping that my better half would appreciate my "home" cooked meal.

No response.

Hmmm

I put the fork in my mouth, and to my dismay found the food utterly bland.  "Eww, What happened, this was a good restaurant, and I waited for an hour to get my order," I said out loud!

There, that was the end of my white lie. I was blushing so hard that even the Red Roses were feeling embarrassed seeing my color since they thought they were the ones to bring in Romance in that room, but not now.

My better half broke the silence by a loud laughter, and I could not resist but, joined in.

No doubt that lead to the release of my stress hormones and love was back in the room.

Siete: The soft music synchronized with our heart beats and soon we were dancing arm in arm.

Ocho: Reminiscences of 'how we met', 'the awkward moments' made the whole scenario light up as we chuckled over our clumsiness and uncoordinated skills. 

 Just then the door bell rung. I jumped out of fright since it was not in the itinerary. While the better half nudged me to answer it, I opened to find a LARGE RED packet at my doorstep with a string hanging out. Instructions were to pull the string. Curiosity caught the cat, and I was quick to follow suit.

Nueve: The box popped open with helium balloons and a special gift. I did not have to guess on this one. It was from my Valentine indeed.

What made it even more special was that I was not expecting anything from him. On the other hand, I was disappointed at my planning, execution. 

Mantra for today: Expectations always lead to disappointment.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Reversal of roles..

On 14th of February,  St. Valentine is commemorated in the name of courtly love. Little did the Romans realize that the world will celebrate that date with grandeur and glory.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

Charles M. Schulz

This day observes second biggest celebration after Christmas where sales of greeting cards reach a record height since couples express their affection, fondness, and yearning for each other.

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.

Thomas Merton

Love, compassion is at its peak on this particular day. 

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.

Rumi

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said.

Victor Hugo

In order to make it a special day, couples either choose to dine out, find the most exquisite spots or ideas to romance just to make it unique.

 I think a role reversal can also help create a magnificent evening. He cooks, cleans, and serves while she gets the bouquet, the booze, light the fragrant candles, select the background music, and then after dinner swirl on the dance floor hand in hand while taking him down memory lane with pictures clicked over the years or just everyday incidents.

Let's be frank, we are living in a male dominant society, and giving charge to your spouse/better half/ mate/ partner for one day to make the choice for an evening that she would desire could tell a lot about you! While you get to plan the meals and know how to execute it on the table. Voila! Impression and memories are made.

“It takes four men to dress a salad: a wise man for the salt, a madman for the pepper, a miser for the vinegar, and a spendthrift for the oil.”

anonymous

As it takes two to tango, the Valentina and Valentino can continue to enjoy this date that is centuries old thus helping them highlight their gray strands, which could be fifty or more cause of the stress a relationship could endeavor. The above action could bring a particular closeness when trying to wear each other's shoes thus leading to enjoying the actual fifty shades of grey in unison!

An ordinary evening that started with humble understanding, just to make it a memorable day, can make the couple touch or reach many avenues in their relationship. Understanding, Longanimity are some of the nouns that get into the grey cells of the couple, as they reminisce about their past while promising to make a bright future for themselves.

Mantra for today: Love is a gift that requires a barter of caring, affection. 

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This post has been written for Baggout Blogging Contest on Valentine's day. Baggout provides awesome deals on Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, Snapdeal, Amazon, and 100+ other online stores.

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The most-memorable Valentine's Day I ever had was... when we flipped the whole scenario, and I was supposed to surprise my better half with stuff while he would sit and praise for everything that I did. However, I was supposed to act classy and bring out the best in that evening.

This was decided a month before the D-Day, and we never brought it up. Though, I wish he would have reminded me about it a day prior to it since; I totally forgot about it, and did not think that he would take it seriously. Anyhow, the D-day comes, he wishes me and reminds me of the "decision", and just then my whole day was put on hold.

I quickly picked up the phone, asking for reservations to any restaurant, but even with a slack in the economy, these business establishments serving food and drinks were overly booked.

Anyhow, I thought I just go out and buy some gift and landed up paying double the price for it. Roses were incredibly priced as if they were gold plated, and his favorite cologne was sold out in many stores. My day went in planning stuff and little on my work.

Well serves me right, cause I was the one who asked for that change.

Evening comes, I bring "take out" from a fancy restaurant which took me an hour to get it. Came home and placed it on a fancy dinnerware stating "I cooked it"and set the table with lights, gold plated roses, Champagne and some soft music.

We sat down to eat our "home" cooked meal, to which I repeated umpteen times more to console myself that I had planned out the evening well.

He started to dig in his plate while I watched him and I was hoping that my better half would appreciate my "home" cooked meal.
No response....Hmmm

I put the fork in my mouth, and to my dismay found the food utterly bland.  "Eww, What happened, this was a good restaurant, and I waited for an hour to get my order," I said out loud!

There, that was the end of my white lie. I was blushing so hard that even the Red Roses were feeling embarrassed seeing my color since they thought they were the ones to bring in Romance in that room, but not now.

My better half broke the silence by a loud laughter, and I could not resist but, join in.
My Expectations of having a great Day without any planning was not a wise thought. I am glad it ended with a smile :)

Mantra for today: Expectations always lead to disappointment.