The Holiday Whiz: Valentine's Day, Chinese Lantern Festival, Cream-Filled Chocolates Day, more

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's Day, Chinese Lantern Festival, Cream-Filled Chocolates Day, more

February 14th, 2014, is Valentine's Day, Heart to Heart Day, International Quirkyalone Day, National Call in Single Day, Gold Heart Day, National Have-a-Heart Day, Ferris Wheel Day, Chinese Lantern Festival, Macha Bucha, Fossil Free Friday, Think About Sex Day, National Condom Day, Library Lovers Day, Race Relations Day, Pet Theft Awareness Day, World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day, National Donor Day, and Cream-Filled Chocolates Day.

Chocolate hearts.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos, nokhoog_buchachon.

Valentine's Day is here again. Do something romantic for your lover, something sweet for your friend, something nurturing for yourself. The day is about love, not sadness; joy, not loneliness. Enjoy my "Top 10 Romantic Movie Quotes" to get in the mood. Oh, and speaking of romance, today happens to bring a full moon in some parts of the world.

Heart to Heart Day, an offshoot of Valentine's Day, is an opportunity to share your heart with another. In our world of electronic communications, send your heart to someone else via ecard.

International Quirkyalone Day is a sweet alternative to the commercialism of Valentine's Day. According to Quirkyalone.net, "IQD is a celebration of romance, freedom and individuality. It celebrates true romance (as opposed to the fake versions presented to us in reality dating shows), independence, creativity, friendship, and all kinds of love - including love for yourself."

National Call in Single Day is certainly a holiday in reaction to Valentine's Day. I don't endorse this one, because there's no shame in being single. Definitely it's better to be single than to be with the wrong person. Have yourself a wonderful day, no matter what your relationship status may be.

Gold Heart Day takes Valentine's Day to the realm of philanthropy. In the UK, people buy and wear Gold Hearts in support of the Variety Club Children's Charity.

On National Have-a-Heart Day, consider adopting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Proponents say it promotes heart health.

How about a romantic rendezvous for two under the stars at fifty feet, on a ferris wheel with twinkling lights? Ferris Wheel Day honors George Ferris, inventor of the classic romantic carnival ride.

The Chinese Lantern Festival takes place on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year. Celebrations take place under the full moon, including dragons, fireworks, and games.

Buddhists celebrate Makha Bucha during the full moon day of the third lunar month.

Fossil Free Friday is observed in the UK on Friday of Go Green Week.

Our friends in the UK observe Think About Sex Day on Valentine's Day. If you forgot to bring flowers or a card for your partner, however, thinking about sex might be all you do.

National Condom Day fits in with the general holiday theme, in a way. Never allow yourself to be so swept away by emotion that you forget to protect yourself against disease or unwanted pregnancy.

Books (and the arts) need love too. Take time during the day to relax and celebrate Library Lovers Day.

February 14th is Race Relations Day. Make room in your heart for those who may be different from you on the outside, but who have a human heart just like yours on the inside.

LCA (Last Chance for Animals) promotes Pet Theft Awareness Day today. Think about ways to ensure the safety of your pets - chips, secure fences, better supervision - whatever is necessary. Pets are full-fledged members of the family.

Heart disease is a type of broken heart, which is why today is World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. How can you help? What steps can you take to become more heart-healthy?

Share your heart with others, figuratively speaking, by signing up to be an organ donor. Today is National Donor Day.

What's Valentine's Day without chocolate? Be your own Valentine and buy some chocolates for yourself! Have a glorious Cream-Filled Chocolates Day!

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Holiday Quotes

Every day is a holiday with you by my side. –N. Fleming

Today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, Wednesday is National Baked Alaska Day, Friday is National Carrot Cake Day. I'm not sure how these days get started, but I'm getting very fat celebrating them. –Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel Live

Today is National Cheese Day, and I mean this when I say it, I hope your day is as gouda as mine. And if you're having a bad day, just hope it gets cheddar. Come on, admit it, that was sharp. I'm sorry, those puns were cheesy. Seriously, I apologize for those jokes. That's not the person I want to brie. –Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

In Britain the day after Christmas, the 26th of December, is called Boxing Day. And do you know why? Because they fight each other. –Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show

The 4th of July is the day we celebrate our independence from Simon Cowell. –Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel Live

Today is...Earth Day, or, as it will be known in twenty years, That Planet that We Used to Live On until We Ruined It Day. –Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show

Eight more days of Lent, then it’s back to chocolate, bourbon, and Lady Boxing on Pay-Per-View. –Conan O'Brien, via Twitter

Be Nice to Lawyers Day–have you heard anything so crazy in your life? What is that, like Pet a Serial Killer Day? –Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show

Sometimes I worry that we Americans have lost sight of the true meaning of Bampflugnax Day. –Conan O'Brien, via Twitter

I heard about this Day of the Dead that they do here [in Mexico]. Everyone basically has a party to celebrate the dead people. We don't do that. We find it all a bit morbid, don't we, death? We don't like to talk about it. We certainly don't have a day dedicated to it. But then we waste days, you know, dedicated to, like, Pancake Tuesday. Why have we got a day for pancakes? –Karl Pilkington, An Idiot Abroad

Anyone acquainted with Ireland knows that the morning of St. Patrick's Day consists of the night of the 17th of March flavored strongly with the morning of the 18th. –Author Unknown

The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once. –H. V. Prochnow

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. –Oren Arnold

There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents ... and only one for birthday presents, you know. –Lewis Carroll

Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. –Dave Barry

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. –John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special. –Chris Rock

About astrology and palmistry: they are good because they make people vivid and full of possibilities. They are communism at its best. Everybody has a birthday and almost everybody has a palm. –Kurt Vonnegut

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. –Paul Sweeney

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending. –Fred Rogers

A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell. –George Bernard Shaw

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. –H.U. Westermayer

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. –Donald E. Westlake

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. –Robert Frost

For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out. –Steven Wright

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. –Irv Kupcinet

The holiest of all holidays are those/ Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;/ The secret anniversaries of the heart,/ When the full river of feeling overflows;--/ The happy days unclouded to their close;/ The sudden joys that our of darkness start/ As flames from ashes; swift desires that dart/ Like swallows singing down each wind that blows! –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow