Valentine's Day?

Is Valentine's Day really an important holiday in America? I heard on the news it is the second busiest holiday to Mother's Day for florists. While I love flowers, I don't expect flowers and I suppose I don't really think about Valentines Day being a serious holiday. But my children's teacher said all students had to make Valentines for all their classmates. So I guess it's mandatory for elementary students and the card companies are happy about that.

I also heard on the news tonight how police were trying to crack down on PDA's in Bangkok today... and somehow I can believe it ... made me chuckle as I remembered once a Cambodian teacher in our English program in Phnom Penh asking if we would be having off for Valentine's Day. His impression was that it was one of the biggest holidays in the US. I was shocked and amused. I hadn't even thought about it being Valentines Day let alone considered cancelling classes for the day!!!