I don't understand why you hate it so much. It is a great tradition imho, even if it is overused for commercial purposes. However, you should not limit to express your love and gratitude to your loved one to this day; you should do it every day.
valentines day this year is going to kick ass, i'm opening a huge thrash show at the gilman with a ton of badass la and bay area thrash bands, its going to be a mega awesome party of metal.
I'm working today, 06:30 - 18:30, and tomorrow same thing, so the girlfriend and I have postponed out Valentine's dinner until next week. We're not giving presents or anything - both she and I feel that presents given at unexpected moments are worth far more than things given out of "obedience" to a commercial demand.
This year since I'm in Boston for VD, my mom put my gifts/chocolates in with my sister's and shipped it to Boston so we could open it together. Fairly certain her husband ate one of my candy bars. We got socks, candy, and a gift card to Starbucks. So this holiday is still good in my book.
Valentine's Day was fun in elementary school when you got to make those little card boxes and exchange cute little cards with the class. Outside of that, I've never really cared about it. But, my mom will probably buy me chocolates, and I will eat them.