Valentine’s Day is a time for the expression of love between family and friends.

Although gift exchanges are a tradition of the “holiday,” the increasing amount of money being spent is unnecessary to express gratitude, affection and love.

Valentine’s Day is the feast of St. Valentine in the Catholic church. When the martyr was imprisoned, he wrote letters signed “your Valentine” during his incarceration. Since then, the day has developed a personal meaning as a tradition of expressing love.

Beyond holiday cards, people often buy bouquets of roses, boxes of chocolate or teddy bears. The practice of exchanging extravagant gifts is unnecessary and excessive. Like Christmas, material things seem often to have replaced true affection.

Over the past few years, Sacred Hearts has taken a stand on such extravagance and refuses deliveries of Valentine’s Day gifts. It does not accept gifts for students which are delivered and discourages exchanges throughout the day.

Gifts are not the only means of expressing affection. Relationships should be valued for their emotional connections.

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, platonic or romantic, which should not be defined by the price or number of material items.