Next week is my birthday. Yes, I was a December baby born just a few days before Christmas.
I was not the only December birthday in our house, one of my sisters was born a few days after Christmas. So, in the matter of less than a week my parents had two birthdays and Christmas to celebrate.
As children both my sister and I hated having December birthdays. My parents tried hard to celebrate our birthdays on our birthdays and to make them special, but it was often hard with all that went on during the holidays.
It was more than December being so busy for everyone though.
It was birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper, which we did not like. Not only that, relatives would give us gifts and say it was for both birthday and Christmas, so we felt a little cheated.
My poor sister had her birthday after Christmas. By the time her birthday came around everyone was so tired of desserts that no one really cared about her birthday cake or having another celebration.
Yes, those are some of the bad parts of Christmas birthdays, but now that I have grown up, I really do not mind my birthday being right before Christmas. Of course that may have to do with the fact that birthdays are less exciting that the older you get.
But the best advice I can give you if have a child with a birthday close to Christmas, is to try hard to make it special and focus on them, not on Christmas for that day. Give them something to remember their birthday besides it just being Christmas time.
Now I am curious how many of you have December birthdays?
What are your thoughts and tips for making December birthdays special?
December birthday checking in… and I still hate it. This year I decided to go to Key West for my birthday and had a blast expect for certain family members making comments about how I decided to go to Key West right before the holidays. Being a December baby is diffcult even when you get older 🙂
@Jennie Gift, Now that is a good way to spend your birthday! I hope you had a great time.
@Lynn,
Oh it was wonderful, nice weather and Key West knows how to celebrate christmas – lighted historic houses and boat parades… I could see going back again for my birthday 🙂
I am a New Year’s Eve and I hate it. Look folks birthdays are supposed to be special…so 1 present for Christmas…one for the Birthday…and for the Birthday leave off the Christmas wrapping off! Of course for this year…just let me give Cristmas to my Great Grandchildren will be enough.
I sometimes got cheated with a birthday 3 weeks after Christmas! But now that I’m older, I don’t care when (or if) I get presents. This is my first Christmas married, and I told my husband he could make his life easier by buying me one inexpensive Christmas gift and worrying about my birthday gift later.
My bday is two days after Christmas ! I always remember getting my Christmas/Bday presents too as a child. I never felt cheated because my grandparents always made it a celebration right along with Christmas 🙂 ! We had the Christmas dinner and for dessert since everyone was around we had my birthday cake . It was still special to me 🙂
My daughter has a December birthday (the 20th) and it is a little difficult. I always make sure to have birthday gift-wrap for her gifts (not Christmas wrap) and make the day and her celebration about her and not about the fast-approaching holiday!
My daughter has a December birthday–two days after Christmas. My hubby and I separate the birthday and Christmas. We wrap her birthday presents in birthday paper and do not put them under the tree. I do find it hard to have a party with friends for her birthday because they all seem busy with the holidays. So for now, I just keep it as a family event and let her choose her birthday dinner and make a cake just for her. So far I haven’t really heard her complain about having a birthday so close to Christmas.
December baby here and I love it!! I was born the 13th. Maybe I was/am still “far” enough away from Christmas that I didn’t get “ripped” off. But I can totally see how RIGHT before and after could be blah(thinking the AFTER is worse). Then I went and married a guy with a December 3rd birthday! :o) Which I also love. Being 10 days apart makes it special, to me. We’ve had to big(25th and 30th) parties together, which is a lot of fun! The next combined will be our 40th. ;o)
My cousin was born on the 30th, which does not really lend itself to having a big birthday party (everyone is gearing up for new years eve!). So, he has a small celebration on his birthday, and then a BIG BASH on his 6-month birthday. I think that is a nice way to get 2 birthdays out of the deal and people usually bring gifts to to the big party (because, yeah, he usually gets jipped), too, which makes it extra special.
My son was born in December. He was actually due on the 23rd, but I had him on the 10th. I will not wrap his gifts in Christmas paper- ever. That just seems crazy to me. You wouldn’t wrap someone’s gift in Santa paper if their birthday was in July, so you shouldn’t any time of year. This year, we chose to give him an experience gift and took him to the aquarium. I love making his birthday special. (:
My second baby arrived (very unexpectedly) on Christmas Eve. We work hard to separate the day for her by, of COURSE, using birthday paper (and pink, not red!) and having a separate set of gifts. Within our family, we spend Christmas Eve morning as “C’s birthday”, then start the Christmas festivities in the evening. Now… it’s hard because she’ll NEVER get to have a “friend party” ON her birthday. This year, we threw the bday party 2 weeks early and decided not to fight it… we played Christmas carols and had an ornament decorating party. The birthday girl was thrilled and the kids had such fun together. One of them remarked, “C has the BEST birthday ever!” So, I guess it’s working ok. (Sorry for the book! 😉 I’m passionate about this topic!)
My daughter was born ON Christmas Day. 4 AM to be precise! We always knew the holiday birthday would be difficult – so we have the party and gifts on (or near) her Half-Birthday. The first few years I never made a big deal about her birthday ON her birthday, because I knew we’d be celebrating in June. One year, I confess, I even forgot to sing happy birthday to her. But, as she has gotten older (7 this year) she has become more outspoken on the subject. SO, she gets to pick what we have for breakfast Christmas morning, and we have a birthday cake for her – this year a pink and purple butterfly. I think her feelings on the subject fluctuate. She gets more gifts from extended family – aunts and uncles who give 2 gifts instead of one – which is cool and makes her brother jealous ;), and she loves all the Christmas decorations. But, I think at times she still feels a bit cheated too.
I was born on Christmas Day. When I was young, it wasn’t much fun because I could never have my birthday party on (or really anywhere near) my birthday. But I don’t mind it now– no one forgets my birthday, and I never have to work that day either. My family is GREAT about making sure to recognize my birthday even though it’s Christmas.
Lynn,
I can totally sympathize. My birthday is January 4th so I know the whole it’s a combined gift thing.
One thing that did make my birthday special was that I share it with my mom. That is good, because at least there are two people that want to celebrate, but bad because I have to share a birthday with my mom, and compete with Christmas. My dad suggested one year that we celebrate my “adoption day” as my birthday – they day my parents legally adopted me – which I think is in May. I’ve always contemplated doing this…. but never had the guts to switch my birthday!
Toni
@The Happy Housewife,
How have I missed this about you after following your blog for so long? You’re just full of surprises! 🙂
My grandson-to be (son of my son’s fiance) will turn 2 on New Years Eve. This will be our first year to celebrate with him. I will make sure from here on that the party is not a New Years/Birthday party… but for his birthday alone! And, I won’t forget to use birthday wrapping paper!
My birthday is December 28th. My mom always said she took one of my Christmas presents and wrapped it in birthday paper. I always felt like it was a burden. I have suggested to friends who have kids near Christmas to make sure to celebrate completely separate from Christmas. If I had a child with a b’day that close to Christmas, I would probably do a small family celebration on their b’day and then do a big kids celebration on their half b’day, when everyone isn’t so busy or gone.
Your story is my own, with my only sister being born days after Christmas as well. My birthday is a few days before Christmas. I think my parents really tried. We did have Christmas themed birthday parties with my friends some years, and when things were crazy and when I was little we combined our birthday celebrations together though separate from Christmas. I do remember sometimes feeling a little cheated but not because of gifts, because I couldn’t bring cupcakes to school like all my friends… my birthday was always during the break. I don’t remember my sister or I ever complaining. I will have to ask her. It was just how it was. I still love the Christmas season and I love my birthday. Double celebration 🙂
Well, having a birthday super close to Christmas was annoying, but at least we weren’t born on the leap year Feb 29th! That would be a bummer as a kid 🙂
@flora, I had a student in one of my Kindergarten classes that had a Feb. 29th birthday. It took me awhile to figure out way he cried almost all day March 1. It turned out he thought he wasn’t a year older, because we “skipped” his birthday during calendar time that morning 🙂
My birthday is next week too! 🙂 I actually LOVE having a December birthday and wouldn’t have picked a better month. It was like a week of gifts when I was a kid and I loved every minute of it. My family was really good about always keeping it seperate. I don’t remember having gifts in Christmas paper, everything was 2 different occasions.
I will say that planning a birthday party was difficult b/c so many people are gone that close to Christmas, but I never remember it being a problem.
Happy Early Birthday!!
December 10th here. My advise is give two separate gifts. I heard “Here’s your birthday and your Christmas present” when being handed one gift pretty often. A kid does not understand that that one gift cost more than buying two separate gifts.
well i don’t have one, but my daughter is born on november 30, step-son on december 1 and my son on december 6. so it is a bit hectic – but more so financially. we give each one on their special day a dessert and their “own” celebration, but one big family party.
Wow December 10th seems to be a popular birthday. My daughter’s birthday is that day! We start talking about her birthday right after Thanksgiving & make a big count down. She also gets to choose when we put up the tree. Funny thing is she likes having it up on her b-day because she is the only kid to get birthday pictures in front of the tree. 🙂 My family celebrates the December birthdays when we do Christmas and my daughter LOVES it. She gets more presents than the others is her reason. She is my most laid back & giving child so this just cracks me up when she says this!
My birthday was yesterday (12/16). As a child, my parents always made sure it was a celebration of it’s own and not just an addition to Christmas. Nowadays, I really don’t celebrate it other than going out to eat at the restaurant of my choice. On a similar note, my granddaughter’s birthday is on July 4. We make sure NOT to use red, white and blue themed gift wrap, plates, napkins, etc., because we want it to be HER day.
2 of our 3 children have December birthdays. Our youngest son’s is on the 7th and our daughter’s was yesterday, the 16th. I do not do combined parties for them, I keep them separate and they each get their own cake. We only have grandparents out for birthdays, but when they get older (he turned 4 and she turned 6) maybe that will change.
I can’t do the 1/2 birthday thing because my oldest son’s bday is in June. So I’d have to celebrate his 1/2 birthday on Dec 23. There’s just no way around it! 😉
I do wrap gifts in Christmas paper – but understand that I wrap my June birthday boy’s gifts in the Sunday comics. I just don’t have regular wrapping paper around the house!! Actually, I did buy Christmas paper with snowmen on it and felt that it was more winterish than Christmasy!
My youngest was born the day after Christmas. We celebrate “Eli Day” sometime in the summer. It’s usually close to his half birthday, but by calling it Eli Day instead of his half birthday, we’re not committed to hitting any exact date.
On Eli Day he gets his decorated cake and all of his birthday presents. This drives my mother-in-law bonkers and I know she’s sending him another present for his actual birthday too. But at least he gets to have a birthday party that isn’t lost in the shuffle of Christmas.
On his birthday he gets to pick a special meal. I will also make him a special dessert. I just won’t go to the hassle of decorating a cake that he probably won’t eat anyway given that there are so many other treats around.
My son’s birthday is on Monday. It certainly makes my December a nightmare, but he feels special and not overshadowed by Christmas. He’s only 6, hopefully it continues. We have a special budget for each person’s birthday & party that is separate from Christmas, so that helps.
I guess I’m in the minority here…my birthday is 12/19 and I’ve loved having a birthday close to Christmas. It’s such a magical time for children and adding my birthday in the mix was just wonderful. I loved that my cake was decorated with a Christmas tree or snowman and that my presents were wrapped in Christmas paper. I felt special that I got to celebrate my birthday at the most special time of the year. The first time somebody mentioned to me that they bet I got ripped off having a birthday so close to Christmas I was stunned! I wouldn’t trade my birthday at all.
My oldest’s birthday is tomorrow (the 18th). She doesn’t mind having her birthday close to Christmas. We celebrated her birthday a week ago with her friends. There were no signs of Christmas at her party. We also make sure she gets something(s) on her birthday as well. It’s tricky for us as parents to come up with another gift in the midst of Christmas too, but it doesn’t bother her at all. I’m not sure, if it’s because we always try to make sure her birthday is separate and have a rule of absolutely no Christmas wrapping paper at all. My second child is born on January 12. The only challenge with that is that the stores haven’t replenished their stock by her birthday, so there isn’t much to pick from. This year, I purchased her birthday present at the same time at her Christmas gifts, so that I wouldn’t have that problem this year.
No December birthdays here, but I heard a great idea from a neighbor friend who’s birthday was the day after Christmas… His mother planned a half year party for him so that all his friends could actually be there and there was no Christmas wrapping paper in sight! The family still celebrates on his birthday as well but even as an adult he still has a big party on June 26th, it’s kinda like having two birthdays a year without aging twice as fast!
My daughter was born six days before Christmas. It can be tough, but we’ve always tried to keep the days separate. This year we’re taking her and two of her friends ice skating for her special day. Although it’s never bothered her before, this year she mentioned how she envies her friends with birthdays in the summer because they get presents twice a year, not once. So next year we’re going to try a HALF birthday celebration. I’m thinking swimming party!
my daughters bday is 3 days after christmas 🙁 (i swear i purposely planned to NOT have a december baby, but she showed up at 31 weeks) we are really struggling with the birthday party issue. We decided we would make christmas smaller and focus on the meaning, and then make her birthday a big deal with a big party.
The problem is she has so many other little friends and cousins whose birthday is BEFORE christmas, so they end up clogging up the weekends before christmas with their parties. so the past 2 years we had it in the middle of january and EVERYONE IS ALWAYS SICK. like really sick, im talkin swine flu, pink eye, pnuemonia.
Not to mention paying for it all. In a perfect world I start saving for it in the summer but my husband was laid off for most of the year, and he will be laid off for a short time over christmas. Also, we live in a apartment, so since we can’t have it somewhere free like the park, i’m going to have to PAY to rent a place.
Can you tell I’m a little stressed out this year?! lol
My youngest daughter’s birthday is two days before Christmas. We have her a celebration that has NOTHING with a Christmas theme. Why… my birthday falls in the first week of Jan. My parents always gave me a “bigger Christmas present” just because my birthday was around the corner. Uggghhh!
I have a Thanksgiving baby, Nov 26 and a Christmas baby, Dec 23. So far it hasn’t been an issue for them, though the oldest (my Christmas baby) is only 7. Their birthdays are just like the younger 2 summer babies- they choose whatever theme cake they want, I make it, a few gifts and cake and ice cream with the family. I don’t feel obligated to have a birthday party every year and invite a ton of kids and we’re a military family living 3500 miles from family so having cousins or grandparents too burnt out is not an issue for us. Not to mention it keeps Christmas calm for us too lol! Hopefully as they get older it continues to not be an issue for them!
My birthday is December 14th and I’ve always hated the combination birthday/Christmas presents and that everyone is too busy for more parties at that time of year, but my mom always did a lot to make my birthday special. She would make me breakfast in bed, hide birthday notes in my backpack, make me a special birthday dinner, bake/decorate a cake that was unique to my interests that year…I loved birthdays growing up!
Oh! The only other thing that I HATED when I was a kid was that you can’t have a pool party in December! 😉
My birthday is next week too, and I love it! I would not pick a different month! My family was really good about keeping everything separate. It was like a week of gifts when I was little which I wasn’t complaining!! Having birthday parties was hard, but as I got older I’ve never been into birthday parties anyway, so it never bothered me.
My daughter’s birthday is next Wednesday the 22nd. I’ve always made sure I decorate in the colors/charachters she wants and have never wrapped her gifts in Christmas wrap. She shares the month with her dad who has his birthday on the 30th. He remembers feeling cheated sometimes. I was terribly disappointed when she was born so close to Christmas, I knew it would be hard. Not only does she share a birthday month with her dad she also has twin cousins who have their birthday on the 10th and an aunt who’s birthday is today the 17th. This year we had a friend party with her cousins on the 11th (I figured that was the only way she’d get a friend party.) We celebrated at a trampoline and tumbling place and just had two parties going on at once. On the 22nd we’re having the family over and will celebrate with all of them then.
My daughter was due on New Year’s Day, but decided to come a little early. I went into labor on Christmas day and ended up having her on the 26th. She’ll be 4 this year so we don’t have many birthdays under our belt yet, but for us her birthday is a separate day from Christmas. She gets birthday presents wrapped in birthday wrapping paper, wakes up to balloons everywhere, and had a birthday cake. This year she seems to be really excited about her birthday more so than Christmas — and it’s all because of the cake 🙂
Not me, but there are a boatload of them in the family!! My husband is one of them and I always make sure to make a big deal of it – birthday wrap and decorations strung all over the house, right around the Christmas stuff.
Actually, the birthdays start in November and don’t stop until January!
Happy Birthday Lynn!!
Well, I’m not a kid anymore– but I was born on Christmas Day … sigh … I’ve always wanted to see what it was like to have a regular birthday on a regular day?? My mom did her best, we usually had a birthday party the week before — but so many were busy that it didn’t always happen.
My mom ALWAYS bought a cake (not huge) and at my birth time 5:18pm we would sing Happy Birthday and have cake on Christmas Day. That was a signal that Christmas celebrating was done and it was birthday time. Normally with extended family — but now that she has passed away, this is my most favorite memory and my kids (now in their early 20s) carry on this tradition as best they can. Mom did this till I was 40 years old!!
So my advice — from one who didn’t love having it, although its a special day for sure — don’t do the this is for your birthday and Christmas present thing (hated that, still do! How about I give you your birthday present in June and say oh that’s for Christmas too!) Birthday paper is a must!!! I loved that, still do. I appreciate those who do that still.
Make something memorable about the day that you do each year that your children can remember and cherish … I bet no one else had my birthday tradition of 5:18 pm singing and cake.
@Michelle, I wish I could do that for my daughter (also a Christmas baby). But she was born at 4 AM – I don’t think I’ll be getting up that early. But, wow, what a great tradition for you. I love it!
My birthday is Dec 22nd. As a child, my parents always made a point to make my birthday special. They usually took the day off work, and we always went out to eat and to a movie of my choice. My husband and my parents both still try to make my birthday special. My parents are driving up from Texas on Wednesday just to go out to eat with my husband and me for my birthday.
My husband’s family likes to do family birthdays for everyone. Because of the busyness of the holidays, I actually asked that they not throw a party for me. My in-laws still take me out to eat a couple days before my birthday, but we don’t celebrate my birthday with the extended family.
My birthday is coming up this Sunday (the 19th). I always liked having my birthday near Christmas, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized I really was being “cheated” out of gifts since I often got the “it’s for your birthday AND Christmas” line. I always expected my gifts to be wrapped in Christmas paper, but it never really bothered me. The worst part was that I had more than one birthday party growing up that had to be canceled due to snow and bad weather. But by middle school, I started a tradition where I always had my birthday party on new year’s eve. It doubled as a birthday/new years party, and it allowed everyone t0 get past Christmas without having to worry about “another party.”
My birthday is New Year’s Eve, and we have 2 other bdays that week – one Christmas Eve and one the day after Christmas! As kids, it was the twofer gifts that got to me the most. We Had a joint birthday celebration most years – usually sometime in between Christmas and New Year’s. Sometimes, we would have a birthday pie on Christmas Eve for my brother, and then another for the 2 girls. AND, my parents would go out for New Year’s Eve and I had to babysit (being the oldest) – which added insult to injury. Now as adults, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore:) My husband usually brings a cake to whatever New Year’s Eve party we attend 🙂
December hmm let’s see. I had a son who was born Dec. 14 which was hard enough. Now I also have a granddaughter born on Dec4th (was due Christmas day which would have been terrible), a granddaughter and a grandson born on the 23rd (not twins) and one son who decided he had to have his anniversary on the 13th just to make life more pleasant lol. All in all December is pretty full. We do make a point of celebrating each (including the 2 on the same day) seperately. The only one that kind of gets pushed is the one on the 4th as we always try to do parties on the Saturday and the first Saturday is always my husbands work party to which this granddaughter and her family goes with us. They have a Santa there so she always gets to see Santa on her burthday which she thinks is fantastic (although I wonder as she gets older if that will change lol). We have her party the following weekend. Now though she is playing basketball and she had a game on the Saturday that we would have put her party so she had a mid-week party. She did not seem to mind too much. We did decide next year we will stsrt having hers on Sunday to avoid any problems.
My birthday is on the 29th….4 days after Christmas. We always celebrated Christmas with my grandmother, Uncle and his family & our family. We would take turns going to each other’s house for Christmas, but on my birthday we would go to Grandma’s. She always tried to make it special. My parents would give me “larger” presents and say it was for both. I wouldn’t have gotten those presents if my birthday was not close to Christmas. My 12 year old daughter just said to me that since my birthday is so close to Christmas, why don’t I take one of myChristmas presents from her and call it my birthday present. I told her I would if she didn’t mind counting one of her Christmas presents for her birthday in Mar. She didn’t like that idea…lol. My grandma used to say it wasn’t my fault I was born at this time….we are going to celebrate her birthday!
I might be dealing with this soon as my grandson who is due the middle of January has been trying to make his debut the last few weeks. My daughter is now 36 weeks so the doctor said she will not try and stop her labor now. I’m excited to hold my first grandson but would like him to wait a little bit longer. Being a typical male, he wants to come and see what all the excitement of Christmas and afraid he is going to miss out.
My daughter’s birthday is 2 weeks before Christmas. I have always waited to do any decorating for Christmas until after her birthday. My sister’s birthday is the day before my daughter’s so we always get together as a family to celebrate both of them.
My daughter doesn’t like her December birthday because she has always wanted to have a beachy type birthday party..maybe invite some friends to the local waterpark. So we may have to do a half-birthday sometime soon. 🙂
My birthday was yesterday, December 17. My parents always made my birthday special, and I wouldn’t have changed anything. I love being a December child. My anniversary is December 21, so all my celebrations are right there together and easy for anyone to remember. 🙂
My birthday is December 25. This year I will celebrate my 70th. Yes, I too, was not too happy having a Christmas birthday as a youngster. Since our marriage 48 1/2 years ago, my husband has made sure it is a birthday and Christmas celebration on December 25 and our children and grandchildren make sure they visit Mom and Grandma on her special day. I’m truly blessed!
OH yes!!! I totally agree with you on this one. Our daughter was born 10 days before Christmas. Poor planning on our part. However, from the moment we knew she was coming we promised each other to always make sure her birthday was the SAME as all the rest of our children. We have 6.
So that’s what we’ve done for the past 22 years. She just celebrated her 22 again at our house.
We kept one room of the house completely free of Christmas decor. That would be the kitchen. And it was decorated in birthday decor, the week before he birthday. We shopped for birthday presents all year long for all the kids. We had a budget and a plan. Our Dec. baby was in that plan. Her gifts were NEVER combined with Christmas gifts. And she ALWAYS got a cake. No matter how busy I was. Sometimes it would be just a boughten cake, but it was a fancy cake, and never forgotten.
She has mentioned several times to her friends that she loves being a Dec. baby, because she gets twice as much gifts and fun in the month of Dec. ; D So it does our heart good to know that our promise has been kept and she has felt appreciated.
Thanks for the post!
Prepare for a long rant here *laugh*. My birthday is a sore subject…sorta. December 30th here. It has always been hard, especially in my family to get anyone enthused about my birthday. I ALWAYS got a gift under the tree wrapped in Christmas paper that just said, “Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday” from everyone in the family, I was lucky if my family even REMEMBERED my birthday at all and if they did I never really got anything cool for my birthday because everyone was broke from the whole Christmas thing or they were gearing up for New Years. The worst part for me, actually *laugh* as a small child was that my birthday fell during Christmas break and so I never got one of those cool paper crowns that they always gave to the birthday kids in my class in Kindergarten and stuff. I always felt so ripped off.
Now that I’m an adult it is worse, which I didn’t think was possible. My husband is one of seven children (and three of them have children of their own) so Christmas tends to leave people doubly broke. My mother-in-law decided since all of the children and grandkids live up here is that she’d do “combined birthdays” (we have to celebrate every holiday with the grandparents…they are just those types of people). So now, not only do I get a chia-pet type of gift every year, I also get to celebrate my birthday a month late. Which, once you are over 30, the glamor of having another birthday after your actual birthday just totally loses it’s appeal. One year I even had to work on the day of my own birthday party (or the combined party) and my mother-in-law was going to have it without me because my sister-in-law (who wasn’t even CELEBRATING her birthday) could make it that day. Makes you feel special. I keep telling them to just forget my birthday since I don’t really need more “stuff” and to just wish me a happy birthday, but noooo they keep doing it and every year I get irritated.
Thank God for my husband, who always makes a point of getting me something ON my birthday and at least taking me out to dinner and I was always grateful for my Grandmother who always remembers my birthday and at least says “Happy Birthday” on my actual birthday to me :). So, even in the midst of “ugh” there are some bright points to it.
M1ne is the 27th and my husband’s is the 24th. His family never did much for birthdays after the kids were 9 or 10 since there were five of them. My parents always had a separate dinner for me and the gifts were wrapped in birthday paper and there was a cake. Now that I am in my 60’s we don’t do much about them. My husband and I just give each other cards and maybe we’ll go out for dinner when the holidays settle down.
My birthday is on Dec 22. I also have a sisters who’s is on the 8th and a brother on the 19th. As a child I remember always having a party despite being so close to Christmas. except a few times when the weather was bad and no one could come. Now that we are adults and there are even more Dec. birthdays that include in laws, nephews and nieces we have one great big party and celebrate together usually at a pizza parlor. Its always a fun time when everyone gets together.
Oh my, this is a topic I can relate to! My husband’s birthday is Nov. 8, my youngest child is Dec. 14, my twins are on Dec. 28 and I’m Jan. 1st!!
We are VERY careful to separate Birthday from Christmas!
♫♪Happy Birthday to you! •*¨*•.¸¸♥
♫♪Happy Birthday to you! …♪♫•*¨
*•.¸¸♥Happy Birthday, Dear Lynn¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪…
♪♫Happy Birthday to you! •*¨*•.¸¸♥
@Carol, Thank you!!
Here I am – December 29. It bites hard! My husband is amazing though and that is what matters. He has a mom and 3 sisters and their birthdays are as follows – Dec. 17, Dec. 22, Dec 25 and June 1. His wife is Dec 29 (that’s me) and his MIL was Dec 28. His daughter June 2. He is really in trouble during the holdiays but he always manages to make it great for me. Friends on the other hand don’t really care, or try. I hear excuse after excuse but come Jan – they want a big to do for them…This year, I took my very special friend out to dinner for her Dec birthday and simply posted no Christmas attire, this is a Birthday party not a Christmas party. A few ladies got really upset and called the birthday girl and made a big deal about having just bought it, wanting to wear it and all. She was more than gracious. I then told them, I just understood how sad it was that all my birthday pictures either had a tree, a santa hat or something holiday in it and I wanted to do something special for her as she is so special to alot of people. They said some flipant remark about being told what to wear and I realized that only another Dec birthday would totally understand and get it. Happy Birthday Ma’am!! This year and every year – I will think of you always.
I have a 5 year-old daughter with a December birthday and my sister also had a December birthday. My mom would skip many of my sister’s birthday growing up because it was so busy during Christmas. So, I vowed to never do that to my child. Then, I discovered that I’m experiencing the same problem for the past 4 years as well. So, I took an idea from my neighbor who also has a December baby. She celebrates her daughter’s birthday in October instead. So, I threw a party for my daughter in early November before the busyness of Thanksgiving. It worked out wonderfully at first, but I’m truly burnted out by December right before Christmas. So, maybe October is better.
BTW…my sister’s birthday gifts under the Christmas tree were generally substantially higher in monetary value. So, I was jealous as a kid that I didn’t the “bigger” item. : )
My littlest is a December birthday- luckily the 12th, not TOO close LOL
We try hard to make it special – we avoid christmas for that one day – also we plan her ‘kid’ party for January – which she prefers as it gives her something to look forward to after Christmas and doesn’t make it seem like SO long till the next celebrate-her fest
Lots of December birthdays in my family. Me on Christmas! Deceased father-in-laws Christmas Eve. Deceased son-in-laws also December.
Son’s birthday is December 29th. Also two early January birthdays. My sister’s is January 4th and grandson’s is January 8th. We celebrated both my birthday and my sister’s on January 4th when we were kids. I don’t know if she resented that or not. Because my son’s was so close to Christmas and my girls birthdays are in May and July, we did half birthdays for him and got him something special when one of the girl’s has their birthday.
In my own family of five we have 1 November birthday, 3 December birthdays and 1 early January birthday, so I can relate to too much celebration in this time of year. My mom and daughter are after Christmas and I feel especially get cheated because your tired of celebrating and when she was really little trying to make sure you sent the invitations to school before school shut down (bday January 4th) with everything else going on was challenging some years.
My birthday is December 29 and it is difficult having a birthday so close to Christmas and New Year’s. The only rule I have is no Christmas paper for birthday gifts. It can be wrapped in newspaper or a paper bag, but absolutely no Christmas themed stuff. Everyone has always done a good job of seperating gifts though in my family and usually we try not to open it with the other gifts under the tree. We usually do dinner out with dessert of my choice – which is usually carrot cake or german chocolate or something not “christmas-y” in the way of dessert.
My birthday is after Christmas so I know how it goes..
When my husband and I found out when our daughter was going to be born.. We told everyone from DAY ONE.. there will be no birthday presents in Christmas paper.. NO duel gifts ! We do not put up any Christmas decorations IN the house until after my daughters birthday.. She wants to put lights up outside though.. so that is fine . The only thing we have up Christmasy is the advent calendar..
She likes her birthday though.. I guess it is what you make of it.
sue in NJ
December 20th here. Yes, today is my birthday. Got a card from my parents — it was a Christmas card, inside a check for everyone’s Christmas and my birthday. Mom told me to divide it up how I wanted. hmmm……. Growing up I always heard, “Do you want a big Christmas or a big Birthday?” Frustrated me to no end as my brothers (August/September babies) were never asked that! This year my husband got me a cedar chest & us a new mattress set. Looked at me and said, “Merry Happy Birthday Christmas.” They get delivered on Wednesday. My youngest son (8) spoiled me this year (for my birthday) spent his only $10 on 3 boxes of Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies & a Chocolate Orange. Love that boy!
I just had a baby on Dec. 9th. That makes 3 children for me with December birthdays!! December 9, 16 and 29.
I ALWAYS keep things separate for birthdays and Christmas. I made it VERY clear to family when our first December child was born not to pull the whole “this gift is for both birthday and Christmas”. I reminded them (nicely) that if the child had their birthday in June instead of December than it wouldn’t even be an issue.
The birthday after Christmas has the tree gone by then.
I’m the day after Christmas birthday – the 26th. It’s always been tough! After all the Christmas celebrations, everyone is exhausted and worn out and don’t care to do much more celebrating. However, when I got married, my husband and children have tried very hard to make the day centered around me, and it has been a blessing just to see them put sooooo much effort into making the day special for me:) I am truly blessed with a great husband, three young adult children, and two “in-love” children (my in-law children). My advice to anyone who has a child or relative with a “Christmas” birthday would be to just make it as special as you can for them by truly focusing the day (or at least some of the day if it happens to land on Christmas) on them. You will really be blessing them by your efforts:)
My birthday is Dec. 26th. I actually never minded it as a kid – I got presents 3 days in a row & everyone else only got them 2 days in a row. 🙂 And, my family was always VERY good about getting me 2 gifts and using birthday paper.
Our family wasn’t too into birthday parties, so starting when I was 8 or 9, I would have 1-2 friends over to spend the night. Low-key, but still special. When I was 16, we started going out to dinner on my birthday. That tradition is still going strong until I turned 40 as by then I was living on the other side of the state.
I actually don’t mind my birthday. All my friends can remember it, but I can’t remember any of theirs! (Except my friend who was born on Christmas day.)
We throw my my step-daughter half- birthdays in June, on her Dad’s birthday. That way, she can still have a big birthday party with friends and birthday type stuff going on. Her birthday is Christmas Eve.
My daughter’s birthday is the 5th. Since it is pretty early in the month, we usually put off decorating for Christmas until after her birthday, but this year she specifically asked for the lights and tree to be up for her birthday. I also do not usually wrap any birthday gifts in Christmas paper, but have, in a pinch, used pink, Princess paper that happened to be winter-themed (I probably bought it originally as Christmas paper). Of course that was for my July baby’s birthday present though so the Christmas part was not noticed (at least by her). I have not combined my daughter’s birthday gift with her Christmas gift, but used to do it with my brother (his birthday is the 19th). I asked him on the years when I wanted to do it and it was always in order to get him 1 more expensive gift, rather than 2 less expensive ones. He was always fine with it, but did resent those who “combined” his gifts simply as a way to get out of spending money on 2 gifts.
My birthday is Tuesday…the big 4-0!! My mom did the exact same thing. She wrapped up Christmas presents in birthday paper. My dad’s birthday is the 27th. I usually make him a cake and get him a special gift to make sure that he feels special since everyone is tired of celebrating. Happy Birthday, Lynn!!
My birthday was yesterday…
My daughter was born ON CHRISTMAS DAY last year. This will be our first year celebrating both a birthday for Jesus and a birthday for our little one. It is obviously impossible to separate the days since they are one in the same. My sister’s birthday is December 26 and my birthday is January 3. My sister loves her birthday because she doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. She was fine with having a pie and ice cream and people leaving her alone. I was not of the same mindset. I like having a party and celebrating. It’s fun and it’s really the only day of the year I get to celebrate me. However, that didn’t happen often since everyone was partied out. I am not sure if my daughter will be more like me or my sister. She is extremely laid back, but likes attention. I don’t want her to feel cheated/unimportant to us in any way. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle an actual Christmas birthday?
My Daughter was born December 31st, New Years Eve! I actually chose the date of her birth (c-section, my 4th overall – and 3rd in 3.3 years!) so I didn’t get a choice in the matter of whether I had a c-section or not. At the time though, my due date was December 29th, and when we found out I was prego- it was two weeks before we went on a family trip to Disney World and hubby was using up all of his vacation time then. Needing help as I prefer after a c-section, I requested special permission from my surgeon to schedule the c-section 2 days later than my due date (I have never gone into labor on time or early) because hubby’s vacation time started over on the 1st. Having the baby on the 31st gave him the day off, and than he could use his vacation time to be at home with me after. She’ll be two now, and last year I scheduled her party in the evening – not realizing it’s kinda silly to schedule it than because it’s her birthday all day long, and my single brother who did stop by for the party – still left early to go out on “New Year’s Eve.” This year we are having the party in the afternoon, but still letting the older kids stay up as late as they want in the evening and we’ll have movies and fun junk food to enjoy as well. When I was deciding to schedule her birthday – I had a friend who told me about two Dec Birthdays in her family, one on the 28th and one on the 31st. The one on the 28th hated her birthday, and the one on the 31st loved his birthday – because the whole world celebrated it with him! I thought that was delightful. Though, now I realize that Hubby and I will never be able to go out (at least not for a number of years) alone on New Years Eve (cause it’s your daughter’s birthday!) I’m not sure how future birthday parties are gonna go, or if kids will be able to come because of parents having their own New Years Eve parties. We’ll see. Things you never think of, when you are scheduling something like this.
Fun fact too: My Best Friend and I were both pregnant that year at the same time. Her baby was born Dec 13th (which is also my FIL’s Birthday). We have a lot of fun discussing birthday cakes at this time of year, and we plan for our kids to enjoy each other’s birthdays in the coming years.
Oh, I forgot to say too – I especially wrapped her birthday presents in BIRTHDAY themed paper. Mostly because I want to save all the holiday paper for other things and not run out and have to run to the store to buy more! But I also intend to always make her birthday special and separate from all of the other holidays surrounding her special day. Not unlike any other child I have (like the one born 3 days after Valentines day! Or the one born 4 days after St. Patty’s day!)
Uh oh, I’ve been using Christmas paper even for the April/August/September birthdays! Where’s the blushing emoticon when I need it?
December 26th here and I love my birthday!! As a child my parties were held in the first half of the month, before the real Christmas madness begins. I never had a problem with people skipping it or not feeling special. Christmas is my favorite time of year and having my birthday added in just makes it even more fun!!