Holiday Birthdays

It's been another warm day – cloudy, a little damp, but still close to 60. And hubby and I had a wonderful day together.........but, in all honesty, every day with him is wonderful!!

After we did our morning podcasts, we went to Marshall for some shopping and lunch. I love checking out their Dollar Tree store – absolutely everything in that store costs $1, and they have some pretty decent stuff. I picked up Christmas cards for next year and reminded myself to check there when I need to replenish my wrapping paper or need gift bags. Hubby got me a Garfield “Happy Birthday” balloon, which is cheerily wandering around the living room now. He knows I'm a big Garfield fan.

My next stop was Goody's, while hubby took the Jeep through the automatic car wash. I had not one but two $10 gift cards from the store, one for my birthday and one for Christmas. I wasn't sure if they'd let me use both cards at the same time, but they allowed it since one was a birthday card. Whee! Extra fun shopping! I love their winter socks, so I got three pair of those. I also got a purse. I am a purse junkie. I'll admit it. Hubby had put the thought in my head, commenting last night that I might want to check out purses today. And I had a $10 card to put toward it. Why fight the obvious, right?!

We picked up necessities at Aldi and Walmart, then went to Applebee's for my pre-birthday lunch with hubby (it's Sunday). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Hubby had on a vest that has a lot of metal loops and hooks on it – that was fascinating to the two-year-old in the booth behind him! She spent a lot of time playing with the metal loop on his back. She looked like she may have come from a Christmas program. She had on a sparkly red and black dress, with red and white leggings. So adorable.

It was a very fun day. If you're not born in the holiday season, I'm not sure you can fully appreciate how easily we holiday babies get lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year's. It's not anyone's fault, that's just the way it is. When I was a kid, there was always the possibility of having to hurry through Birthday Supper because there was a Christmas program that night. One year I had to stay home on my birthday because I had an earache. You never got to have a birthday party, but it was just too close to Christmas.

One particularly memorable year, when I was a teenager, my birthday was on the Sunday before Christmas. One side of the family was having the Christmas gathering that day. As the desserts were being set out, someone made a comment about there being a birthday cake in the mix. Mom commented that it was my birthday and the reaction was, basically, “oh”. I was kind of glad that I was a teenager and old enough to not be devastated at that reaction.

Hubby has been very good over the years to make sure I feel special on my birthday. He usually tries to draw the celebration out for about a week – and I find that I'm really good with that! He threw me a birthday party when I turned 50. He buys me balloons, puts up banners, and is very careful to let me know my birthday is a special day. Mom takes me out for lunch on my birthday, which is why hubby took me out today. And over the years she's made a lot of cherry chip cakes with cherry frosting!

I told Mom yearly when I was growing up that one thing I would never do to a child is to have them during the holiday season. I guess if you do the math, I kept my word...........I don't have A child who was born during the holidays, I have TWO of them!