I survived my birthday! Actually, I don’t want to make it sound like it was a rough day or anything. Quite the contrary. It was a great day and that is due 100% to Kile. He really made an effort to make sure I had a good day, start to finish. It’s nice to feel special, for one day a year. And you don’t need a lot of money to accomplish that either.
I got a pretty nifty gift too! It’s not something I would have thought of for myself. It’s a Disney Show-Pix Digital Picture Viewer. Yep, Disney. And in bright pink Disney Princess fashion too! I have no idea why he might have thought that was perfect for me. 
It goes on a keychain too, which is where I plan to put it as soon as I can hunt down a AAA battery to go with it. I already packed it full of pictures of my family so I can have them with me where ever I go. Back “in the day”, I used to carry around a photo album of Harry’s pictures. But that was before digital pictures really took off and I am notoriously bad at printing pictures out these days so I’ve never had pictures of Liam to carry around. That all changes now. Pretty sweet, huh? Budget or no, Kile still managed to get me a pretty awesome gift and I’m very appreciative of that. Good job, babe.
He and Harry made me a cake as well (white cake with chocolate fudge frosting and sprinkles on top to boot!) and we had this amazingly yummy goulash recipe for dinner. Oh, I should also mention that we went out to lunch after MOPS at Red Lobster and it was really good. I was impressed with their lunch menu prices. We got SO much food that I walked out of there feeling a good 10 pounds heavier. I was STUFFED. But I got to eat shrimp, and that there is worth quite a bit in my book. Oh man, just thinking of it is making me hungry again.
Susan sent me a question along with birthday wishes yesterday and I thought I’d try to tackle it to the best of my abilities today. She has a bunch of loved ones with birthdays in December and was wondering if I had any tips on how to make a December birthday special. I think it’s really quite easy and you don’t have to do much that you wouldn’t do for a regular birthday any other time of the year. She said that with her husband’s birthday (which falls days after Christmas), she makes sure to take down the Christmas tree so it’s not overshadowing his big day. Now, my perspective might be different since my birthday is before Christmas and not after. But I’ve always wanted the tree up for my birthday. When I was a kid and we got real trees, that was generally the earliest we had a tree but I always wanted to have it up in time for my big day. Especially if I was having a party. Now that we have a fake tree, it’s been up for ages by the time my birthday rolls around so it’s a moot point. But since I love Christmas and the tree makes things feel so special and festive, I’ve always liked having it around on my birthday. Helped me get in the mood more. But again, might be different for those whose birthdays are after Christmas. Though I will say, around here we’re lucky to have the thing down on New Year’s Day (we like having it up on New Year’s Eve, to add to the festivities).
I will say, wrapping presents in regular wrapping paper and not Christmas paper is a nice touch. I doubt I would care too much if I got a present all done up in Christmas wrapping, but it’s nice to see something without Santa Claus on it for a change this month. Having separate presents is a must. As I got older, I was more aware that my mom simply selected a few presents out of my Christmas pile to give to me. BUT, she did purchase me more gifts than my siblings for that very reason so it evened out and I didn’t feel slighted at all. However, often those gifts were wrapped in Christmas paper. Just sayin’. Also: gotta have cake. A good, old-fashioned birthday cake. If it’s not decorated all Christmas-style, even better.
If giving gifts, give the gift on the birthday. Or before. Anything after feels like Christmas. The biggest no-no is combining gifts. Even if it’s something large, where you’re combining funds for birthday and Christmas. Which isn’t to say that you should NEVER do that, but you need to make sure that there is at least a little something else to have on the birthday. And I would only ever try the combining gifts thing on adults (preferably a spouse, as it’s somehow more understandable), never on children. Kids won’t understand and will feel slighted either on their birthday or on Christmas and that’s not good.
For a kid, having a birthday party is a great thing. I know it gets hard for people around the holidays, but if you can get a load of kids over and have a good, big party, that’s worth a LOT. I always really appreciated the birthday parties my parents gave me and everyone who showed up. It never felt like a “Christmas birthday” either. As an adult, it’s nice to go out to dinner or lunch or do something somewhat special for the big day. Going to movies is a favorite of mine (and December has some GREAT movies, with all the Oscar contenders coming out). Declare a ban on baking, Christmas cards, wrapping presents, Christmas shopping or decorating for that one day.
Anyhow, not sure how helpful this is. A lot of it is pretty much common sense. What do you like doing for your birthday? Chances are, someone with a December birthday would like that too. Tone down the Christmas, but don’t eliminate it altogether. Because, at the heart of it, sharing your birthday with a month that contains Christmas is special in and of itself and that shouldn’t be forgotten.
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