Ask Charles Adams to explain why the heart is the most recognized symbol of Valentine’s Day and he’ll laugh.

Adams has read all the theories on the World Wide Web and he’s not subscribing to any of them.

“The heart is just the symbol of love. Why make anything more of it?” he said, with a smile.

When Valentine’s Day comes around each year, Adams has more heart than most men, and thankfully so, many men would say.

Adams is a stained glass artist who crafts a variety of heart shapes in a medley of colors for those special Valentines.

“It used to be that Valentine’s Day was a day set aside for ‘sweethearts’ but, not now,” Adams said. “Valentine’s Day is for women, children and, yeah, even men. We want to find ways to say, ‘I love you’ to all the special people in our lives. And, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Except, how many ways can you say, “I love you?” Candy, cards, cruises and Cadillacs?

“Or, with simple red, pink or yellow heart-shaped sun catchers that say ‘I love you’ every day,” Adams said. “I don’t know how long I’ve been making the stained glass ‘Valentines’ but I do know that they are the gifts that keep on giving. When the sun catches those heart shapes, it’s Valentine’s day every day.”

Adams and his wife, Mary, host open house at Adams Glass Studio the weekend before Valentine’s Day each year.

He or she makes a batch of his mama’s teacakes and puts on a pot of coffee and invites everyone to “tea.”

“We’ve been doing this a long time, so long we’ve lost count,” Adams said. “Or course, we would like for the men to buy their sweethearts a stained glass heart and for the women to buy stained glass Troy University sun catchers for their honeys, but what we really enjoy is having everyone come by and sit around and talk.”

Adams said that Valentine’s Day Open House is open season on sharing.

“It’s funny but no matter who comes in, eventually, they will get around to telling about how he met her or how she met him and, always, they’ll say, ‘Let me tell you about time …’ That’s what the Valentine’s Day Open House is really about.”

Adams Valentine Day Open House will be from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday and from 1 until 5 p.m. Sunday.