Valentine's Day
Marty wanted to follow the Japanese traditions for Valentine’s Day. He finds it stressful buying me a present and prefers a tradition where only the women give gifts. I agreed to go with part of this tradition – the part that involves me buying him chocolate. But I still want to receive a small gift.
I was told that the shops would be busy but I wasn’t expecting to have to take a number to queue for chocolate. Nor was I expecting to be pushed out of the way by an elderly woman in her haste to get to the chocolate counter.
I wanted to buy something special and bought some expensive Godiva truffles. And then I thought that maybe I should buy some British chocolates. And then I was worried that he would have expected both these choices so I went and bought some French chocolate. At one point I ended up in a supermarket staring at the chocolate counter thinking that maybe I should buy him a different type of chocolate for every year we’ve been married! It was at that point I realised that I was getting carried away…
February 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
A traditon where only the women buy gifts sounds like a good idea to me! Perhaps you should be like Carolyn and drop not-very-subtle hints, such as “I’d really like a box of Milk Tray for Valentines Day”.
This is sooo much easier for the male species …
February 14th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
If you follow the Japanese tradition, you should get the gift back one month later! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day
February 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
According to Wikipedia, “the gift the boy gives (one month later) is supposed to be three times the value of the gift he received”
Not sure I’m sold on this idea – it sounds like the whole thing was thought out by a woman. A bit like the old theory (in the UK at least) that an engagement ring should cost a month’s salary. Now people are saying that it should be two months’ salary instead; it won’t be long before they’re claiming three …
February 15th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Neil – Think I got away lightly …
February 15th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I saw the posters and adverts for White Day last year but I didn’t manage to work out what it was. I’m sure Marty won’t mind buying me another present 🙂
As for engagement rings I asked Marty not to spend a month’s salary on mine. I didn’t want one as I don’t like wearing a ring – and once we got married I tended to only wear my wedding ring as wearing two drives me nuts. The main reason I agreed to have one is that he thought that other people would find it strange if he didn’t buy one and didn’t want to try to explain this every time someone said “can I see the ring” – which happens a lot when you get engaged.