I know you have one more celebration in you

So how did yours go? Was Santa kind to you – even if you were naughty AND nice throughout the year? Was your New Years Eve a celebration of all things wonderful that took place

in 2009 – or just a celebration that it was over?

Whatever the underlying reason, I hope you have had plenty of chance to celebrate this festive season.

And as the heat lingers on (and on), so too does this time of overindulgence in all things good – food and wine!  We had only just recovered from the Christmas/ New Years period, to head into another national celebration for Australia Day - with flags flying, beers chilling and barbecues on high, we embraced the opportunity to proudly “get stuck in”.

Surely, surely now, we are done. But not quite ... we have one more opportunity to be decadent, to hold off our plans of purified water and steamed vegie diet and finally pay off our credit card ... Valentine’s Day!

Now before you groan and think of fat velvet maroon hearts stuck to a stunned looking teddy bear, or tacky cards that drop their consonants for an “I wuv you” from the mouth of a ridiculous cartoon version of a normally stately animal – let’s think about what Valentine’s Day is really about.

Legend has it that Saint Valentine was put to death by the Roman Emperor Claudius II in AD269 – just why is uncertain, with one version suggesting that he was marrying young men to the ladies they loved at a time when the emperor dictated all men of his army would remain single.

In another story it was because Valentine would not convert to Roman paganism to save his life. Either way, the “romantic” aspect came about because the day before he was executed, he handed a note to his jailer’s daughter he had befriended and apparently cured of blindness, signed “from your Valentine”.

The true tradition was born of hand written notes, to express love, admiration and appreciation of someone who may become your “beloved” – or who you may never see again in the case of our executed Valentine!

It is the simple and pure tokens of effort – the little note for her to find, the small token of hand-selected candy, or flowers (ok, and I’m also putting in a vote for Moet!) that are the things that count, not mass-produced and over-worked gifts that scream of “I’m too scared NOT to give you a present than to truly think of something to meaningfully tell you!”

So why does all this matter? Because all too often we don’t have a chance to tell someone we love them. Sadly, sometimes we wish we had and we no longer can. So let’s just embrace one day each year to let the person we want to be (or is) our Valentine know it.

It can make hearts sing, and pulses race – and it can actually cause more spectacular fireworks than any you would have seen on New Year’s Eve.  So don’t write this day off as just one too many celebration to get caught up in – get caught up in it, but do it your way!

Have the confidence to write a little note to someone you have admired from a distance – it could just make for the best start to this new decade!

If you do have a partner, freshen things up and let them know they are your Valentine – cook him a top quality steak with a really good red and see where things lead!

Guys, do grab some flowers and if you can’t pour a champagne, squeeze some lemon over some fresh prawns and finish with fresh strawberries and cream then maybe you could stretch to a short (but lovely!) note – and reservations!

Come on, I know you have one more celebration in you – and who can go past the excitement of the most romantic day of the year? What a Woman Wants never changes – to be appreciated, loved and respected – what an opportunity to show her – but please, keep it real!

Abby x

Don’t forget you can email me at  [email protected]