"Chalk-flavoured candy and $30 roses", or "Why I hate Valentine's Day"

Yes, I said it.  I hate Valentine's Day.

I think everyone is entitled to one hated holiday, be it Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Arbor Day... whatever.    My hated holiday is Valentine's Day.

There are a lot of historical reasons for this, which I won't go into here.  Suffice to say, I've had a great big pile of really crappy Valentine's Days, from failed fondue nights to a guy who decided the best gift was a half-assed, last minute email, after making a big deal about how he loved to celebrate the holiday and thereby convincing me to make a big deal about it.

The other major part of the hate comes from how freaking commercial this holiday is.  It's the most ridiculous thing!  Flowers that I can normally get for about $10 suddenly skyrocket to $20, $30, or more!  Now don't get me wrong - I love flowers.  LOVE.  To the extent that I'll buy myself a bouquet every couple of weeks, just because they're pretty.  But from the middle of January until almost the end of February, I have to stop, because the prices shoot up like crazy.

And the candy!  I've never been a fan of cinnamon hearts, but they're everywhere.  And while I appreciate the cute idea of those little candy hearts with messages on them, most of them taste like chalk.  And the ones that don't?  They're twice the price of the chalk-flavoured ones.

In summary, I don't like Valentine's Day.  If I could avoid it, I would never celebrate it again.  Unfortunately, it's everywhere.  Excuse me while I go buy the expensive, non-chalk-flavoured message hearts.