Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 It’s that time of year again…The time when I feel the need to defend the fact that for some inexplicable reason, my second-favorite holiday has always been Valentine’s Day. I don’t remember how or why my obsession with Valentine’s Day started, I just remember that every year, as February approached, the pink-and-red wave that suddenly washed over the world completely enchanted me. The excitement I felt when the Cupid silhouettes appeared in windows and the heart-shaped candy boxes took over store displays was unmatched by any other non-Halloween holiday, and I’ve often debated why. Perhaps it had to do with that long stretch of nothingness after Christmas time. Valentine’s Day, though much smaller in scale, was at least something to celebrate and get excited about. Maybe it was the fact that I was guaranteed attention from classmates on that day, via the punny little cards that we were required to hand out to everyone, meaning it was the one day of the year when I, by “law”, could...

 I recall a silly song from a TV show of my youth, The Fairly Oddparents, in which the lead character sings a line about “a day that wipes the floor with the other 364.” Okay, okay. The song being sung was about Christmas, but the line has always resonated with me, because, obviously, I feel exactly the same way about Halloween. There is no other day on the calendar that comes close to fulfilling me as much October 31st.  But strangely, there is another date that always makes me happy when it comes around. For most people, this would probably be Christmas or a birthday. But oddly enough, for as long as I can remember, my second favorite holiday has been Valentine’s Day. Though nowhere near as exciting as getting the Halloween decor out, my heart always leapt when I would see my mother pulling out the little Cupid silhouette that always hung in our living room window. Choosing which boxed set of valentines I would pass out to my elementary school class was probably my second-bi...

This may come as a shock, but my second-favorite holiday is, and always has been, Valentine’s Day. It’s one of those things I could never really explain. As a child, I loved seeing the decorations, looking at the cute things for sale,  receiving little cards from classmates that otherwise wouldn’t give me a second thought, and, possibly above all else, trying to make sentences out of the little conversation heart candies. I’d spend countless hours at the kitchen table, trying to make a love note that said something like “Hey You. Let’s Kiss. Be Mine. Love You.” Terribly romantic stuff, I know. As I got older, it became sort of the “in thing” to hate Valentine’s Day, especially if you were single, but even at the loneliest points in my life, I could never bring myself to do such a thing. I don’t think I ever saw the holiday as being exclusively about romantic love. For me it was always about just love and happiness in general. Be it romantic love, friendship, family, a pet,...