Well, today is Valentine’s Day, and this year it’s a bit different than it’s always been in the past. Our People are not going out to their customary Valentine’s Day Dinner, due to a human problem called a Virus, and since they are working from home these days, Mr. Russ has not sent Miss Chrissy any flowers at her office as he often does. They have both agreed to have a quieter Valentine’s Day this year as they patiently wait for their Vaccines, which should begin within the next several weeks. Of course, we Whimsies don’t have to worry about any of this, because we are not People, we are Whimsies! But we feel bad for them, so we have decided to brighten their Valentine’s Day by making a quick overview of who our favorite Valentines are at the moment.

As Whimsies, rather than People, of course we are not likely to ever really fall in love or get married or anything like that. But that certainly hasn’t prevented us from looking at what’s out there! And each of us has a very different idea about who we would choose as a Valentine….if only we could.

VISION

So, since I’m writing this, I’ll go first! And as you can probably guess, my Valentine comes from the world of Marvel Comics. Or, more specifically, from what is familiarly known as The MCU—the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Over the last several weeks, we have all anxiously been setting our alarm clocks just a little bit early every Friday morning so that we can get up and watch the latest episode of WandaVision on Disney Plus almost as soon as it comes out. (Of course, we could get up at 2AM in the morning to see it at the first possible moment, but that would be a little crazy, don’t you think? And I have certainly never done that! Well…I haven’t done it every week. Maybe once. Or twice. Oaky, three times, but I did it very quietly and didn’t wake anyone else up, and then of course I sat very still and quiet and did not spoil anything for the others once we were all huddled around the TV together, just a few hours later.)

The show is so much fun, and there are so many good things to say about it, and so much to discuss about what might really be happening, but one thing for sure there is no need to discuss is the fact that Vision is…well, he is a vision! He is fabulous! He is so good-looking and so kind and nice and fun, whether he’s being himself as the red-faced synthezoid he really is, or disguising himself as a simple human being for the sake of his unsuspecting neighbors.

The last several episodes have had some dark moments, but in the beginning there were quite a few opportunities for Vision to be cute and adorable—like here, when he got “drunk” on chewing gum gumming up his gears and caused all kinds of havoc during the Magic Show. Oh, that was so funny!

And then there’s this: I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I love the look of a man wearing suspenders, but when Vision does that in the 1980’s episode, my heart is all aflutter!

Well, I could go on and on about Vision, but the others are waiting to have their chance as well, so let’s move along and see who Tessie chooses as her Valentine.

COLIN BRIDGERTON
WandaVision is not the only shows we’ve been watching on TV lately, as we wait out this Virus, and the cold weather. (Well, it is February after all, and an ice storm is expected tonight!) One of the other other shows we like to watch is the “period drama” on Netflix called Bridgerton. Over the last year or so Miss Chrissy has gotten us all into reading the novels of Jane Austen, and ever since, we have all grown to be very big fans of “period dramas.” Bridgerton is one of the most colorful and entertaining we have yet seen on the TV, with great costumes, lovely music, and SO MUCH DRAMA! We have only seen five of the eight episodes so far, but there is enough drama in those first five episodes to float a whole boatful of Jane Austen novels!

Of course, we all have our favorite characters, but Tessie has become enamored of the younger Bridgerton brother, Colin. First of all, he is rather good-looking, don’t you think? But even more compelling (at least to Tessie, to hear her tell it) is the whole storyline about Colin and his chubby red-headed neighbor Penelope, who really has a crush on him. He is very friendly and neighborly towards her, calling her “Pen,” but so far there does not seem to be any romantic interest. On his side, anyway. Poor Penelope however is pining away for him, but secretly, and the fact that her pregnant house-guest is now trying to lure Colin into a hasty marriage so that her baby can have a real father, and scandal can be avoided—well! Did I mention…DRAMA???

As I said, we are only through the first five episodes, so there is no telling how this will all turn out, but Tessie is most assuredly rooting for Penelope to win Colin’s heart in the end. I wonder if perhaps Tessie sees us Whimsies as a kind of “chubby red-heads” in a world of slender beauties, and so strongly identifies with poor Penelope’s predicament? There’s nothing wrong with wanting the underdog to win. Especially if what you are winning is the love and affection of a fine fellow like Colin Bridgerton!

SANTA CLAUS
Okay, by that heading, you know where we are going next. Yes, Tootsie is still head-over-heels in love with Santa Claus, even though the Christmas season has been over for at least a month now! Really, more like six weeks. But Tootsie’s devotion to Santa Claus continues. She has as least finally decided to wear jammies other than those depicting the image of her favorite jolly old St. Nick, but she still keeps thinking and talking about him, and counting down the days until next Christmas, when she hopes to tiptoe out to living room in the middle of the night and serve him the traditional milk and cookies.

Now, this may seem like an extreme obsession on Tootsie’s part, and to tell you the truth, I’m sure it is in part being kept alive by a very special couple of movies we have watched on Netflix called The Christmas Chronicles. A few years back, there was The Christmas Chronicles, and then this past year we were treated to The Christmas Chronicles 2, a sequel that took us back to the North Pole and showed us much more about how Santa and Mrs. Claus live and work and manage all those elves. Yes, it was fascinating, I have to admit, and there was some real peril, which was overcome, in large part due to Santa himself being brave and quick-thinking. But to hear Tootsie tell it, the very best thing about Santa is how fun and funny he is, and how entertaining when he decides to break into song. And well, honestly, I can’t disagree with her.

MR. PRESIDENT
Finally we come to Tillie’s favorite Valentine this year, and though we have met him through the TV, unlike the others mentioned above, he is very much in the real world. After several distressing years, Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ were delighted to find that the country is getting a brand-new President, and they couldn’t be happier, and frankly, neither could we. Tillie has been making a study of the new President, and has become so enamored of him because, in her words, he is obviously a truly decent and honest person, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! But even moreso, Tillie really likes to see how the President and the new First Lady seem to be so much a couple, so much a team, so much in love and “on the same page.” Why, very often you will even see them holding hands! Even though they are "old" people who have been together a long time, they still seem to care a great deal about each other.

As I mentioned earlier, we Whimsies don't harbor any illusions that we might someday meet any of our Valentines (well, except for Tootsie, that is…) or ever get to actually know them, we just like to see and know about people (real or imagined) who are good people, and fun people, and full of life. It warms our little Whimsie hearts. And for that reason, Tillie says, she is more than happy to share her Valentine, Mr. President, with the First Lady, whom he loves so much.

Because sharing and caring is, after all, what Valentine's Day is all about.