During this time of the year, if you would step one foot into virtually any store, you would be bombarded with pink and red hearts, colorful candy, signs that read “I love u” and “Be mine.” But aren’t there other loves in our lives that don’t involve our significant other?

Take for instance, the love of art. Creating beautiful work with our hands is enough to overwhelm anyone. We can’t say I love you to our favorite art medium though, or can we? For centuries, Valentine’s day symbolized love for another person. In our culture, this holiday has become a massive commercial hullabaloo, where stores fill up instantly with all sorts of candy, and pink and red items. I know that every year, at our house, we almost always buy some sort of colorful candy to “celebrate” Valentine’s day. I also think that in order to fully celebrate Valentine’s day, we need to go back in time to it’s original, deeper meaning.

Valentine’s day, has no longer become one of the greatest celebration of love it used to be. Our culture has commercialized this holiday so much, as it has done with all the other, once meaningful, holidays, that many people don’t even realize what it means to celebrate Valentine’s day the real way.

Let’s try to steer away from all the store-bought stuff, and take time to create homemade cards and other tokens of appreciation, and say I love you to all the important people in our lives.