WHY LOVE

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 Here are some creative ways to tell your spouse, “I love you.”
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Is it more important to love … or to be loved?
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Most of us would agree with George Eliot’s words, “I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved.” 

Valentine’s Day is the occasion when you can experience both. We 
asked FamilyLife Facebook friends and e-mail readers to share some of 
their favorite Valentine’s Day ideas.  

With a little help from our friends, here are 25 creative ways to tell your spouse, “I love you.” 

1. On small pieces of paper, write down every kind 
of kiss that you can think of (examples: passionate, on the cheek, 
etc.). Then fill an inexpensive red felt bag with your “kisses” and give
 it to your spouse. Ask your spouse to pull several pieces of paper from
 the felt bag, and then give your sweetheart whatever kind of kiss is 
described.  

2. Make a book about why you love your spouse and 
why you are thankful for him/her. The woman who sent this idea wrote, 
“He loved it! Said it was the best gift he has ever gotten. And it 
helped me to focus on the things I love about my husband and not his 
shortcomings.” 

3. Take your sweetie on a scavenger hunt. Ask 
him/her to answer riddles to find the clues to items that you placed 
somewhere around town. The last item should give instructions that lead 
to your Valentine’s Day activities. 

4. After enjoying a candlelight dinner for two at 
home, give your spouse a massage and watch a romantic movie. The woman 
who suggested this wrote, “Last Valentine’s Day when I got home from 
work, my husband … had our bedroom set up with a candlelit table for 
two. He is NOT a cook but he made an awesome meal … grilled steak, 
sautéed shrimp in lemon, garlic, and butter, a vegetable, and [he] 
bought a chocolate fountain that was flowing—surrounded by fresh fruit 
for dipping. After dinner he led me over to his homemade massage table. …
 We ended our special night with a romantic movie.” 

5. Surprise your spouse with a special getaway 
together. The man who suggested this made reservations at a bed and 
breakfast, arranged for childcare, asked for time off from work for 
himself and his wife, and packed his and her bags. When he asked his 
wife to go to lunch on Valentine’s Day she was in for a wonderful 
surprise. “The little bit of effort I put into that weekend paid off 
huge for weeks to come.” (For an extra  special experience, take your 
spouse to one of FamilyLife's <a href="http://www.familylife.com/weekendtoremember2015" target="_blank">Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways</a>.  It's one of the best investments you could make in your marriage. <a href="http://www.familylife.com/weekendtoremember2015/findyourgetaway" target="_blank">Find an event</a> near you. 

6. Give your wife a dozen roses. On each stem attach
 a note for a future date—to do something that she would enjoy. (For 
example, “Go to the symphony.”) 

7. If possible, go on a date with your spouse to a 
restaurant that you enjoyed when you first met. After you order your 
meal, take some time to write down favorite memories from the past year.
 Then share your lists. 

8. Have 11 roses delivered to your wife, and then give her a 12th yourself while reading her a love poem. 

9. Fill a large box with helium balloons and special
 gifts for Valentine’s Day. The woman who suggested this said that her 
gifts included “new sleep shorts for him and a new nightgown for me, a 
box of chocolate-covered strawberries and red napkins ... some new 
candles, and a romantic CD. He got the hint. And loved the weekend.” 

10. Create an intimate Valentine’s Day evening at 
home, without the children. The woman who suggested this idea said that 
she and her husband “enjoyed planning the menu, shopping for the meal, 
and ultimately preparing the meal together. Cooking to soft, romantic 
music can really be a turn on! While dining, the same soft, romantic 
music is a wonderful mood-setter. Dinner was followed by just the two of
 us having the whole dance floor, our den, to ourselves. I won’t say 
what all this led to, but it was a truly romantic night that would not 
have happened at the local restaurant!” 

11. Order food from a take-out restaurant and have a
 picnic for all the Valentines in your family on your living room floor.
 The person who suggested this said, “The kids look forward to this 
every year. When we tried to change it, they wouldn’t allow it ... it 
has become a tradition. The kids see the value of family and a loving 
marriage.”

12. Privacy and weather permitting, watch a romantic movie on your deck or patio. 

13. If you are separated across the miles, send a care package filled with things that are red. 

14. Make a meal with symbols of love. Examples: Write I love you with string beans, make a tart in the shape of a heart … 

15. Hide little heart candies in your spouse’s 
shoes, coat, car, etc. The woman who suggested this said that she’s been
 doing this for decades. “Now a couple of the grandkids help me with 
delight.” 

16. Wives, show up at your husband’s office before 
lunch. Call him from the parking lot and tell him you are going to take 
him for a lunch rendezvous and that you will be waiting for him whenever
 he can take a break. Wear a nice outfit and tell him you have something
 sexy on underneath for when he gets home. Take him to a nice place for 
lunch and back to the office. Give him some great kisses telling him how
 glad you are to be married to him, and tell him you will be waiting for
 him when he gets home.  

17. Fill a jar with Valentine candy and notes for 
your spouse. Examples of notes are: Good for a backrub, 10 kisses, etc. 
Notes could also express your love and respect: “I am so glad that God 
blessed my life with such a great husband like you.” Individually roll 
each note and tie it with a ribbon. 

18. Surprise your spouse by taking a vacation day 
from work and enjoy Valentine’s Day at home. Have a relaxing morning 
together on the porch, deck, or patio. Then go to a favorite restaurant 
for lunch. The man who suggested this idea had also reserved a spa 
treatment and tanning session for his wife. “While she was doing that,” 
he says, “I went home and made her a special dinner.” 

19. Write a poem for your spouse and frame it.  

20. On individual note cards, write why you love 
your spouse. Insert these cards in a small photo album. The woman who 
suggested this idea began her album with a honeymoon picture and 
introductory note card, and ended it with a love note. 

21. Surprise your husband when he comes home from 
work on February 14. Place a welcome sign on the kitchen table and leave
 a trail of red foil-wrapped Hershey kisses to your bedroom. 

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22. With roses in hand 
and permission from your wife’s boss, go to her workplace and read a 
love poem to her. The woman who shared this idea said, “I am a teacher 
in an inner-city school. Last year my husband dressed in my favorite 
suit and tie, came to my school with roses in hand. He got permission 
and assistance from the office staff to open the speaker system into my 
classroom and proceeded to read a long and beautiful love poem to me. He
 then came to my classroom and presented me with the bouquet of roses 
which I received while wiping my tears of joy and love for this 
wonderful man whom I have been married to for just under 30 years.”</div>

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23. Make a special “14 
Reasons I Love You” Valentine’s Day breakfast for your sweetheart. On 
his/her plate, leave a letter or card listing 14 reasons that you love 
your spouse.</div>

24. If possible, send a card postmarked in a town 
that has a romantic name such as Loveland, Colorado; Valentine, Texas; 
or Romance, Arkansas. 

25. After your spouse goes to bed, tape notes to his
 car’s steering wheel with reasons that you love him, or decorate the 
bathroom mirror with lipstick kisses or Valentine’s window clings. 

Have fun on February 14, and remember: Love is not meant to be given 
and received just  on Valentine’s Day. Instead, it’s to be practiced 
every single day of the entire year. 
 
 <img alt="" src="https://shawglobalnews.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/paper-umbrella-love-notes00000000.jpg?quality=70&strip=all&w=256&h=144&crop=1" />

STORIES 25 Valentine’s Day Ideas for Couples

Here are some creative ways to tell your spouse, “I love you.” Is it more important to love … or to be loved? Most of us would agree with G…

Every February 14, across the United States and in other places around 
the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, 
all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and 
where did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of this
 centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of 
Victorian England. 
 
<img class="grv_article_img grv_positionable grv_full_height" src="http://thumby.grvcdn.com/t/250x200/North/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Fs3static%2Fvideo-thumbnails%2FAETN-History_VMS%2F928%2F507%2FHistory_BYDK_Valentines_Day_SF_small_240x160.jpg" style="left: -25px;" title="Bet You Didn't Know: Valentine's Day" /> 
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 <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day#section_1">
The Legend of St. Valentine </h2>
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The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is 
shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated 
as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it 
today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. 
But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this 
ancient rite?

<aside class="trivia"><h5>
Did You Know?</h5>
Approximately 150 
million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's
 Day the second most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas.</aside>The
 Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named 
Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends 
that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome.
 When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers 
than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. 
Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and 
continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When 
Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to 
death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for 
attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they 
were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned 
Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he 
fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who 
visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that
 he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that 
is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends 
is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic 
and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the <a data-id="144487" data-type="topics" href="http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages">Middle Ages</a>, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

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 <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day#section_2">
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February </h2>
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While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle 
of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or 
burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the 
Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in 
the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan 
celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or 
February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, 
the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus 
and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman 
priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and 
Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a 
she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and
 a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into 
strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, 
gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from 
being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it 
was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the 
day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place 
their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name 
and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches 
often ended in marriage.

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 <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day#section_3">
Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance </h2>
<div class="section-group collapse" id="section_3">
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was 
outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, 
when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not 
until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated 
with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France 
and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, 
which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a 
day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, 
though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The 
oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 
1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in
 the Tower of London following his capture at the <a data-id="143703" data-type="topics" href="http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/battle-of-agincourt">Battle of Agincourt</a>.
 (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British 
Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that 
King <a data-id="143893" data-type="topics" href="http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/henry-v-england">Henry V</a> hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

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 <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day#section_4">
Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings </h2>
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In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, <a data-id="143521" data-type="topics" href="http://www.history.com/topics/mexico">Mexico</a>,
 the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s
 Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the 
middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social 
classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and 
by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to 
improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way 
for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of
 one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed 
to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early
 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first 
mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of 
the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and 
colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting 
Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent 
each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending 
holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for <a data-id="142573" data-type="topics" href="http://www.history.com/topics/christmas">Christmas</a>.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

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STORIES History of Valentine’s Day

25 Valentine’s Day Ideas for Couples

History of Valentine’s Day

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