Another guest post (I feel so, er, visited). This time Carly from Writing from The Tub shares her thoughts on Christmas birthdays. As January baby with a January baby (New Years's day to be precise) I was interested to read her thoughts...Whenever people find out my birthday is so close to Christmas their reaction is always one of sympathy.
‘Oh, isn’t that annoying?’
‘You must hate it.’
‘That’s bad planning by your mother!’
‘It must be easy to buy you presents; people can get you a joint birthday and Christmas gift.’
I’m always shocked that people react that way because, personally, I adore having my birthday at this time of year. I mean, what’s not to love? My birthday is on December 17th so just over a week before Christmas and there are so many reasons why this is a very good thing.
Everybody around me is excited about the impending holiday so it’s not just me who’s in a good mood on my birthday, which is something I really like. My whole family are just as jolly as I am and it helps to make the day even more fun that I think it would be if my birthday was at a different point in the year. It’s always nice to be surrounded by shiny, happy people on my birthday and I’m always lucky enough to have a little bit of Christmas cheer seep into my celebrations.
Also, I love Christmas. I’m not one of those people who gets excited about it in September but I definitely do get excited enough in December to probably grate on a lot of people. I love Christmas movies, Christmas food, rubbish Christmas specials on TV and, most of all, Christmas music. Sorry but who doesn’t love a bit of Chris Rea when it’s cold and dark and bleak outside? For me, having my birthday around Christmas just makes the whole event doubly exciting. Not only do I have the joy of Christmas day to look forward to but I also have my birthday, which has become a sort of Christmas warm up act for me over the years.
Because my birthday is (and always been, funny that) so late in the year I’ve always associated birthdays and presents and celebration with cold weather. For me, it just wouldn’t feel right to celebrate my birthday with a barbecue and trip to the beach in the sunshine. No, if I’m going to unwrap presents then it has to be dreary outside. No gale force winds, no presents. Of course, the exception to this is when I sometimes spend my birthday on holiday in Florida, in which case I’m prepared to bend the rules.
There are a couple of drawbacks to having my birthday at Christmas time, though the pros do outweigh the cons. There is always that one person who thinks it’s okay to give me a joint Christmas and birthday present. Just to clarify, it is definitely not okay. Unless the present is a pony. Of course, Christmas and birthdays are not all about presents and materialism, I know that. But I’m not going to lie, I do love receiving presents so the other drawback to having a birthday at the end of the year is that you get a whole bunch of presents in an eight day period (super exciting) but then have a present drought from December 26th to December 16th the next year (certainly not as exciting).
So, there you have it. I wouldn’t want to have my birthday on any other date; I can’t think of a single time of year more magical than Christmas so it’s the perfect time for me to celebrate my birthday. Next time you meet somebody with their birthday around Christmas don’t feel sorry for them, just think about the pure win it must be to get to celebrate turning another year older amid the unadulterated joy of Christmas!
Thank you, Carly, for such a fun post. And a belated Happy Birthday!
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