Valentine's Day: More Stress Than Love?

When I was younger, Valentine's Day was fun. I spent the whole day at school making crafts and eating treats. Later, my mom came home from work with chocolate and candy for my little brother and I. It was great. But then I got a little older and it became a nuisance at school. Probably around middle school when some girls had boyfriends and paraded around with boxes of chocolates and stuffed animals. Then it was all about how attractive you were in those unattractive puberty years, not good. 

In high school it was kind of whatever, my mom stopped bringing home candy after work and it was kind of just another day. It wasn't until my last year of high school that I went on a date and that was pretty cool, because I had only been crushing on the guy forever (read: my current boyfriend). That was pre-dating so it was kind of a big deal. But even then it wasn't about the calendar date than just the fact that I was on my first real date with an awesome guy. 

But now almost two years into my relationship I have to say Valentine's Day is kind of a pain. Mainly because I have to shop for a gift. Last year I kept it simple with a card and some candy, but this year the pressure was on to buy something more. Of course it doesn't help the my boyfriends birthday is a few days after Valentine's Day and I'm still in the process of finding a present for that occasion too! 

Yesterday, I was at the mall with my boyfriend and one of his roommates. His roommate was hunting for jewelry for his girlfriend, so that really brought on the pressure. We agreed to keep it simple, because we both have birthdays coming up. So we split up and I stole his roommate to help me out and I spent the next few minutes browsing nonsense stores in the mall for a cool gift. I settled on candy, tissue paper wrap, and a goofy gift that hopefully he'll love from Brookstone. 

Seriously, when it was all over and we were in the car I started thinking about all of the hair on my head that must be going grey from all of this gift stress. It's endless, every single gift worthy holiday I majorly stress about finding the perfect gift. But is it all worth it?