Love Love Me Do…I’ll Always Love You

With Valentines Day here I was noticing myself saying “Happy Valentine’s Day” to people as a sign off to a conversation or as a salutation. I thought it odd that I would say that to colleagues, vendors, friends etc. Why do we always take a holiday occasion and exploit it? Not in a bad way – but we seem to over do it. A friend from Costa Rica always comments that Americans are in a rush – a rush to work, a rush to grow up and a rush to get to the next holiday. Halloween decorations are in the stores by Labor Day. Why can’t we slow down?

I think we just like the idea of a celebration and the holidays that we embrace throughout the year give us that excuse. In looking at a list of “Happy” occasions throughout the year – below is my list of the most popular and ways we work them:

• Happy New Year – this is the most widely used and generic, you can begin to say it towards the end of December and throughout January…and no one bats and eye. You can say it to good friends, colleagues, the taxi driver, grocery store bagger, etc

• Happy Valentines Day – you can really only use this a week before the big day and not a day after. It can be a “sting” of a holiday to some people who only look at it for people in love – but I say it’s about the ones you love that makes the holiday special. It also requires you wear red or pink – so I’m down with that.

• Happy St Patrick’s Day – this holiday can only be said on the day – accompanied by an article of clothing that is green and possibly a pint in hand.

• Happy 4^th of July – this is a good one, and a true signal of summer and summer vacations. You can use the phrase the week leading up. Luckily the holiday is made of red, white and blue – so you can basically wear anything. If you do have that random piece of clothing with stars or a combo of all three colors, this is the ideal time to wear it. Any other looks a bit too coordinated.

• Happy Halloween – you can maybe say it the day before – but not much before. It’s a celebration of the day of the dead so that is kind of creepy. But if you love the color orange (like I do) this is my most favorite holiday for outfits.

• Happy Thanksgiving – this is the official start of the holiday season. You can begin to say it November 1^st, but once it’s over it’s over and we move on to “Happy Holidays.” The colors that accompany this holiday are a bit drab. The food is always delicious and quite frankly it’s a low emotion holiday, not too many fighting or biting with family members. It IS the day to give thanks.

• Happy Holidays – it’s not very PC anymore to say Merry Christmas, so “Happy Holidays” is the safest and most generic way to express the joy of the season. The day after Thanksgiving we got straight to “Happy Holidays”…you can break out the red and green clothes, the sweaters that have pictures of Santa or wreaths. Holiday work parties are upon us so there tends to be a lot of velour, sparkly stockings, possibly a pin or necklace of Rudolph with the nose lighting up, etc.

I love all the holidays through out the year, I embrace them, I use them but I don’t abuse them. Remember to hug a loved one or the grocery store clerk tomorrow – and try to wear red or pink…you’ll be reminded of what it all means to love someone.

Make is simple. Make it fun to read.

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