Celebration

I've never been in favor of exchanging gifts. I'd rather spend the money on doing something together.

When we can find someone to watch the kids, and have some extra cash, we'll go away for the weekend.

Other times, we to out for a nice meal - dinner or Sunday brunch.

My 15th was spent at Disney World with the kids. It was great!!!

If you can do it, we also love to spend it at Cove Haven. Drove down last weekend on Saturday am and stayed just the one night. Loved it. We have done it many times in our marraige. A great place to be a "couple". No children allowed on the property.

If you consider it, scroll through my blog (www.nosickvisits.com) for a referral code or contact me.

Here it is - 40505N - might save you some money if you decide to do it. It is about 2 1/2 hours straight down 84. Here is their website. http://www.caesarspoconoresorts.com/

We've been there many times, it you have questions.

L.

we usually have dinner out and my husband buys me roses. no big gifts. something i planned last year was a night at Caesar's Cove Haven for just the two of us. It was nice and romantic and good to get away.

Sarah,
The best advice I can give you is be prepared for all kinds of celebrations. Being surprised, planning, and one-sided. yes, one sided.

MY DH Doesn't celebrate our marriage. Some might call it sad, others sick, what he does and doesn't do, but he is my husband and we are married. I'm not about to dump him because he didn't learn how to celebrate - and he doesn't take kindly to someone telling him what to do.

Dinner, dancing, movies (especially if you are pre-children this is a great thing!), intimate weekends, volunteering, there are so many things you can do to celebrate your day that you became one.

If you find yourself only coming together to celebrate that one day, you might try switching things up on him - celebrating a half anniversary. Or just an 'ordinary' day can be turned into a reminder you are blessed to be together.

A card doesn't do it - unless you're making it yourself - on its own. Money isn't the answer either, it's what you invest of your own thankfulness into your celebration.

Celebrate - even if years down the road DH becomes another person altogether. We're married. You're married. It's a life thing, not a boyfriend girlfriend thing.

Just celebrate. Living, loving, laughing, celebrate. Don't worry about doing it right or wrong. Invention helps, creativity is good too, but neither is necessary - just show your love and thankfulness, and hug a lot!

Good luck,
M.

Dinner out -- just the two of us.

And in lieu of gifts for each other, we buy something for the house, usually a piece of art or furniture.

When we have the money, my husband and I buy each other massages. It's a great way to relax and some places even have side by side couples massages. I know sometimes men are a little bit uneasy with the whole massage thing. The first time I suggested it, my husband was very skeptical, but I convinced him and now he loves it! It's a nice escape if you can do it. Otherwise, a dinner out that's maybe a little fancier than you would usually do. It doesn't have to be expensive, just something to break the every day routine and make you both feel special. Happy Anniversary!

My husband Reuel and I keep it simple-- I made it a rule that we do not exchange gifts (though he insists on buying me flowers and a favorite artist of mine came out with a new CD on our anniversary and he surprised me with that)-- we have two young children (7 and 10 months-- and our 7 year old's birthday is the day before our anniversary) and I don't always want to go through the hassle of finding a sitter-- Therefore we both take the day off of work, send the kids off to camp and daycare and spend the day doing what we like (the movies, a spa day or just doing nothing, together)-- we just celebrated out 8th anniversary--

T.
Bridgeport, CT

Sometimes we have dinner at home (something special, like lobster or filet mignon) and other times we might go out to eat. This year, we are driving to NYC and going to a NY Mets game (we're big Mets fans and I haven't been to the new stadium yet). We will not be bringing our son (we usually bring him to ball games), and will probably stop for a nice dinner before picking our son up from his grandma's.

We celebrated 19 years this week, we have always just gone out for a nice dinner alone. We don't buy each other gifts but something for the house, this year, we got all new flatscreen monitors and a laptop.
Enjoy your celebration!