Valentines Day - Romance by the Numbers

I LOVE holidays, especially Valentines day. I think of Valentines as a mini-honeymoon. My wife and I have a fair amount of family and kid time - but not always enough alone time - well, until we start getting into the CSI and Law & Order repeats - that will free up an hour each day.

Valentines Day is a good excuse to focus on being together and enjoying love.

I wrote about the the real Valentine's Day three years ago HERE. The holiday seems to have a few standard requirements according to Matt. But I have my own list:

I like to buy my wife flowers, and any day is a good excuse - even the dog's birthday! With three dogs the odds of hitting one of their birthdays is higher than the average - but just today is a good reason. Pre-Dave Ramsey, I used to get flowers for her more often. I stupidly agreed to a budget without flowers - but it has guitars as a line item, so I am afraid to renegotiate.

I don't know why flowers work for my wife (and lots of other women), but I'm not fixing what ain't broke. She loves them. They look nice, they smell nice, and they are cheap at the grocery store.

On Valentines, or any day, flowers give you a big bang for your buck.

Having three daughters is like living in a perpetual sea of female hormones. I have discovered that anything with hearts is considered "cute," and if I get an awww... I am well on my way to achieving the needed points on Valentines Day. I do have a few qualities that still need to be redeemed and hearts help. My wife might leave a list in her comment.

Chocolate is an essential ingredient to having a successful holiday celebration. It doesn't seem to matter what it is in - boxes, baked goods, pie and even whipped cream, they are all winners.

Stuffed animals make me Superman for the day! The softer and cuter, the bigger the win. On Valentines Day, the volume of gift giving we see at Christmas is significantly reduced. Therefore; I can concentrate on Plush Factor!

Cards are of extreme importance on any holiday - especially Valentines Day. Forgetting the card is like for forfeiting the game. Remember, a romantic card seals the deal. Without a thoughtful card - POOF! - you don't have a chance of getting lucky. WARNING: Be sure not to leave the sales receipt in it - the sales date is a contributing factor to the sincerity quotient. The closer the sales date is to V-Day, the romance factor is reduced logarithmically.

We are skipping the heart laden sexy underwear section because Christians get a little widgy about things like that. How many "Feed My Sheep" t-shirts have you seen in Victoria's Secret?

It is a good thing that Valentines Day is basically designed for men to romance woman, otherwise the requirements would be: showing up naked and bringing hot wings.