How to celebrate December birthdays

by Christine Volpe

It’s been almost eighteen years since that Christmas Eve Ben was born. The third of six children, he was oblivious to the fact that he would spend every birthday of his life wondering if anyone other than his closest family would remember to mark the day.  Over the years we have made our share of mistakes in celebrating a Christmas baby’s birthday. Here are some tips for parents  and family of Christmas babies which may help to avoid some common pitfalls.

1. Don’t use Christmas wrapping paper on the birthday gifts! This is a pet peeve of many December babies.  Spring for a few bucks and buy some birthday wrap.  In all the busy-ness of the season, it lets the Christmas birthday person know you carved in a little time to recognize his day as a separate occasion.

 

1. Do create a unique birthday tradition that no one else in the family shares. For Benjamin, we go out to breakfast at IHOP every Christmas Eve morning. Personally, I really don’t enjoy IHOP;  but it’s not my birthday.  Since he was little Ben has looked forward to this annual pilgrimage.  We indulge him to order anything off the menu. It was always funny to see the waitress’s face when he was five or six years old and ordering a chocolate shake and chicken tenders at 8AM. His siblings were only allowed to order from the breakfast menu. He would get lots of attention when the servers learned it was his birthday on Christmas Eve.  This year he turns eighteen, but I have a feeling this birthday tradition will stand for years to come.

 

1. Try to choose a birthday gift that shows you put lots of thought into it. Make it something you know he would like but didn’t ask for. And don’t make the mistake I made three years ago when he got his first cell phone. I was so excited to have thought of this gift idea because it was something he hadn’t asked for. I think I had even told him he’d have to wait another year for one. Well, when we were at the Verizon store choosing a phone, we noticed they had a two- for -one offer. So we got another phone for his younger sister Becky. It was several years later when one of Ben’s older sisters shared that he was so excited to open that phone for his birthday, but the excitement quickly wore off the next morning when Becky opened the exact same thing. I have something different cooked up this year. It’s something no one else is getting and is totally unique to Ben.  It is something I am making, but that’s all I can say about it until I actually make it.

 

 

1. On a similar note, and maybe I am  stating the obvious  here: under no circumstances, no matter how busy you are, should you pull a gift from his Christmas gifts and use it as a birthday gift! It just depletes the number of gifts for Christmas morning and confirms to the child that you had no time for his birthday. I am happy to say, I don’t recall ever doing this.

 

1. Do allow time after Christmas for some kind of celebration with friends and/or family.  Benjamin understands that many people (not just his family) are otherwise engaged at this time of year. But the beautiful thing is most people have time off after Christmas and this is a perfect time for a get-together with friends, complete with birthday cake and balloons!

 

1. Here’s something we’d done for several years when our children were younger… Dad took the kids and a few of the birthday boy’s friends to McDonald’s and then to whatever was the big movie that Christmas.  This took care of the birthday boy’s celebrating with friends in addition to giving mom (and the friends’ moms) some time to “wrap up” any last minute items. A win/win for everyone!

 

1. Finally, since Ben was small we have let him know that it is an honor to share his special day with the Lord’s special day. I pray that he has come to truly believe that.  I shared a birthday with my mom and I always thought it was a privilege to have that unique connection to her that no one else had.  How wonderful it is to think that rather than feeling somehow resentful at having a Christmas birthday, all our Christmas babies actually grew closer to Jesus through sharing their day with Him.

 

May we all enjoy this most beautiful season of preparation and may all our Christmas babies feel  the love of Christ in their hearts this year.

 

Comments

[Jenny]

my birthday is in 2 days (dec 12) and I can agree with everything you said (I turn 40 this year btw! and I STILL want my presents wrapped in birthday paper! and NO santa pinatas please for kids! snowmen are ok, though!) I can remember one year my mom said as I was opening my birthday presents "I'm so sorry, I usually do a better job of seperating your gifts between your birthday and Christmas, I didn't do a good job this year, so... this is what you got....." yaaaayyyyyy :( I never trusted that what she got me was "thought of" for my birthday ever again!

My husband does pretty well, but has never given me a birthday party because "everyone is so busy with the holiday parties and all, they don't have time to come to your birthday party" so I don't expect a "surprise party" for my 40th! LOL But he does just shop for my birthday, then for Christmas..and the kids work hard to make it a special day too!

[Fe]

I have an adult friend whose birthday is Christmas day... She mentioned last year that each year, all her family ring her in the morning (before she's _out_ of bed—she doesn't have kids:-) ) to wish her Happy Birthday, they have a conversation and hang up. Then a few minutes later, they ring her to wish her Merry Christmas:-) She said it was one of her favourite things about her birthday:-)

[JennyM]

I love this post! My birthday is the 23rd, by husband's is the 29th and our oldest child's is on the 5th! Growing up my birthday was always kind of a let down because I remember my mom being so busy wrapping and food prepping and cleaning the house for Christmas day, there was usually nothing special about it. And I never had a homemade birthday cake :( It was always the same- and decorated for Christmas usually- from Baskins Robbins. I liked it, but everyone else had a homemade cake for their birthdays! My parents usually just gave me a small gift on my birthday and then on my half birthday (in June) they would give me some birthday gifts--- they claim we celebrated like this always, but I don't remember that much about it! Oh well!! Now on my birthday *I'm* the one busy wrapping and food prepping and cleaning (or getting ready to travel) for Christmas day! So funny! Although, my husband has always been wonderful about preparing a special dinner and dessert - a wonderful, welcome treat!

Anyway, I love your IHOP tradition. As you say, anything that makes the December birthday special and different from the rest is great. Our home is still filled with balloons and homemade birthday banners from my daughter's birthday the other day. They're mixed right in with the Christmas decorations!

[Jennifer Gregory Miller]

Thank you! We have a December 13th birthday, and it's a huge adjustment for me. My husband's is January 6, and much of this applies to him, too!

[Karen Kasiecki]

Any recipes?