Our very first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, we decided to do what every couple in town would do, we went out to dinner. We chose a steakhouse that was running a Valentine’s special that included appetizer and dessert. We were newlyweds, in college and dirt poor but we wanted to be ‘fancy’ on Valentine’s Day that year.

Thinking back, I’m guessing we had never been to a ‘real’ restaurant on Valentine’s Day, otherwise, I’d hope that we would have known better than to arrive at peak dinner time. The parking lot was packed, the lobby was crowded and the wait list? Was THREE hours.

We waited. And we waited. We shivered in the lobby, we chatted with other couples, we griped and groaned to each other about having to wait so long for dinner. We were finally seated (a bit less than three hours later but still a long time to wait) and we did enjoy the steak diner we had planned on having. But in the course of our waiting and conversations that evening, we hit on an idea that has stuck for most of our 14 years of marriage; restaurants aren’t as overrun with sweethearts on Valentine’s Day during lunchtime.

So, with a few exceptions here and there and with the style of restaurants ranging from Wendy’s to The Cheesecake Factory, we have made having lunch together our Valentine’s Day tradition. This became an especially helpful tradition when children came along. I found it either easier to get a babysitter for an hour of so during the day or, as they got older, we had our lunch while they were at preschool/school.

Exactly why do I bring this up as a Brag On Him? Because we were that couple I mentioned yesterday. My husband has never really been big on this holiday. He feels he doesn’t need a contrived, commercial, overly marketed reason to show me he loves me. Which is very true. But I was a romantic. I wanted something special. Over the years, I’ve gone over to his ‘camp’. I don’t want cards or flowers or candy or trinkets. I prefer to celebrate the holiday as a family and do small, sweet things for my kids.

But even so, our lunch tradition continues. This year is one of those lean years. I suspect we’ll grab Sonic and eat at home while the kids are in school today. (Since Valentine’s Day is on Sunday this year, we’ve got to compromise a bit!) Even so, he’s my sweetheart, every day of the year and for that I am eternally grateful!

Has your sweetheart gone along with something just to please you? What are the simple but oh so sweet traditions that keep the flame burning in your marriage? Email your stories or blog posts to malia@blissfullydometic.com.