I committed a major faux pas on Valentine's Day this year by arriving home after work without any gifts or a card for my wife. She had prepared a sumptuous dinner including wine, and presented me with a gift and card. Despite my offering of lame excuses I knew she felt slighted by my lack of consideration and selfishness this year. This added salt to the wounds, because she is usually very understanding about the occasional missed gifting on Valentine's Day. We managed to get through the dinner with our emotions in check, and I made a silent vow to never forget important marriage dates again.
The next day I decided to make some amends by purchasing a nice flower arrangement, and beautiful card at a local greenhouse. There were no line ups, a good selection of valentine themed arrangements, and everything was half price! The clerk was even glad to see me as business was slow. It was absolutely painless, and it caused me to think - what if my wife and our immediate family agreed to start purchasing all gifts for various occasions a day or so after the event? The time and money saved would be fantastic. This could even work for Christmas. Have your normal Christmas celebrations and festivities, then everyone could go on a shopping spree for gifts a few days later - missing line ups and getting some great deals. Buying online gifts would also be cheaper and more hassle free (don't believe the myth perpetrated by retailers about vanishing inventory as the big holidays approach). We would all have a knowing smirk watching the herds of sheep like shoppers scrambling to buy gifts on time while anticipating our own low stress post event purchases. For now I'll start by getting my wife to agree that February the 15th will be our Valentine's Day regardless of tradition. Wish me luck.
Tags:
Valentine's Day, Gifts, Presents, Holidays, Humor, Marriage, Romance, Shopping, Budgets, Love, Thrift, Spouse, Relationships
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