Christmas Birthdays

[Auspicious]

Sooo, who celebrates Christmas and has a Christmas-season birthday, or a child with one, or grew up in a household with one? Did/do you do anything different to celebrate it compared to other family birthdays? Any do's and don'ts? Is it hard to insert birthday-mood into the middle of all that Christmas-mood? Is this a conflict only in my own mind? Any philosophical thoughts about it in general?

I obviously have some kind of issue with this , which I'm slowly coming to peace with (I'm glad pregnancy is nine months--gives me time to unpack some of my proverbial baggage ) but I'm probably not 100% there yet.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

My dad, an only child, was born on Dec. 22. To her dying day, my grandmother would comment about how her Christmas was ruined that year because she was still in the hospital...a little messed up!

We celebrate the birthday and Christmas separate every year - except one year when we convinced my parents to let us open our presents on my dad's birthday

We usually won't even do "combo" gifts for b-day and Christmas...

Good luck

Our DD3 is 12/17. We've only had two years of celebrating both close together but so far, so good. I was wondering about it before she was born and started campaigning early to be induced before Christmas if need be (probably over-kill but it made me feel better). I'll have a low-key party for her, probably a few days before her birthday to make things easier. DH's sister and mom have birthdays 3 days before and after Christmas so I guess he is used to it. We won't do combo gifts either.

[Amiens]

I have a son who's birthday is in December, and it hasn't been a problem. We make sure that his day is HIS day- we do our normal traditions such as getting to out on a date with mom and/or dad, choosing our meals. Granted he is 3 going on 4.

I also have a daughter who has a January birthday. I have found that family calling and remembering her birthday is harder for them than my son's birthday in December. I think it's because they are in a holiday coma.

My dh has a cousin who was born on Christmas Eve. Dh's aunt and uncle would throw a half birthday party for the cousin in the summer (I think right before school let out or when it started) at their home. They had a pool.

We have lots. DH is 12/10, my cousin is 12/17, my nephew is 12/25, I'm 1/10 (not technically Christmas, but close enough that a lot of people choose the "combo" gift, and / or "we're out of money" (hello DH).

It can be an issue, unless you set precedent early that the two are not one. My friend born on 12/25 (and from a very religious family) said her parents always did a totally seperate "It's Becky's birthday!" lunch on Christmas day.

[SuzySunshine]

A's is the 27th - I was adamant last year, and still am, that she NOT get joint gifts and that none of her birthday gifts be wrapped in Christmas paper. She will always get a separate party as long as I have any say over it, both last year and this year they will actually be on her birthday but I'm not against doing it on a different day if necessary. When she gets older and wants to have parties with other kids we'll probably do it the weekend after her birthday.

I grew up with a best friend who's birthday was the 23rd and she always got shafted and got joint presents, things like that.

[DCJenn]

OMG.

It's ridiculous- my SIL is 12/1, parent's anniversary is 12/21, my cousin Sarah's daughter is 12/23, my maternal grandparents were married on 12/25 (and therefore it's forever a melancholy holiday for her- since 1968 when he died) my brother, uncle and cousin (Sarah) are 12/29, and my mother is 1/4.

and doing this genealogy stuff? yeah, everyone dies on Christmas. Yay happy family times!

I remember having to sit down w/ my parents and explain that I was kind of mad that all of MY birthday money went for other people's presents and my brother's birthday money went for stuff.

Jenn

[Chrisada]

DS1 was born on Christmas day as was my mom. I am exactly one week before Christmas. We always have a birthday cake for DS and sing happy birthday after we open presents. So far it has worked out fine. I think when he gets older, we will give him his big birthday party on his half birthday in the summer. I got shafted a lot by friends and relatives ( not my parents of course) because money is tight around Christmas. Of course now I don't care, but I remember it bothering me when I was little.

[Bittersweet]

My birthday is January 5th. It is after X-mas (so maybe it is different) but I don't recall ever feeling shafted. My parents did a good job of keeping the occasions separate (no joint gifts, different paper, non X-mas desserts, etc). Now, if anything, I love having the advantage of the after X-mas sales.

[poky]

My sister's bday is the 22nd, and my grandma's was the 23rd; there were never joint gifts, and we always had birthday wrapping paper. For me, it's usually pretty random which gifts get wrapped which way, but she does generally get more presents from me than anyone else. Usually the family would get together once, and they would open birthday gifts separately before we dug into the Christmas stuff. I think my sister had a half-birthday party once (with just a couple friends) when she was a toddler, because having both so close is a little bit of overload and then going a whole year till the next occasion is a little tough. It was tough for her to have birthday parties in general because of the holiday craziness and everyone being out of school and such, but I think she had a few that were just a few weeks early, before school let out. In college, it was actually easier, because everyone was home for the holidays. She'd arrange a gathering at a restaurant, and a bunch of people would be able to make it.

[SoonerTexan]

My siblings are

Nov 16
Nov 27
Dec 1
Dec 29

My mother wants to go nuts this time of the year.

My sister (Dec. 29) used to make a big deal out of it when she was younger. One year my mother bought this giant stuffed bear as an extra present and named it "Fair Bear" to shut her up. My sister promptly named it Shing Lu.

Me? I was the lucky April baby...

[migirl]

DS#1's birthday is 12/17, too (yay, Evie! ). I had the same worries as you, Julie, about his birthday being so close to Christmas. So far (he'll be 4yo) we've had a separate birthday party/celebration and separate gifts, so it hasn't really been an issue yet.

One thing about getting all of his birthday/Christmas gifts at the same time is that then there's a loooooong stretch of time until the next "gift-giving" occasion, so there's the potential for toys/books/stuff to feel old. Does that make sense? So I've been putting away his birthday/Christmas gifts after he gets them and then getting them out - a few at a time - over the course of the year so it doesn't feel like he's going for such a long period of time with no new toys.

A good thing about a December birthday (that we've discovered since he started preschool) is that he gets to celebrate his birthday with his classmates! He gets to bring in a birthday treat to share and wear a birthday crown, stuff that he wouldn't get to do if he had a summer birthday. Just a positive thought.

That being said, this year - since our kiddos' birthdays are two months apart (December and February), we're going to have small family parties for each of them around their actual birthdays and then have a joint party for their friends in January at one of those bounce places. I have some concerns about giving them a joint party, but I'll save those for another thread and not hijack this one...

[MrsK]

Wow. I'm impressed at how active this thread is. We don't celebrate Christmas but I'm still a little concerned about it. (They are talking about scheduling a c-section the week of Christmas if Baby K does not filp in the next 2 weeks. So far, he's trying his darnedist but he's stuck.) I was sort of hung up about "choosing" his birthdate because (1) it's sort of like choosing his horoscope, (2) he'll miss his shot at being the new year baby, and (3) he'll be pissed when none of his friends can make it to his birthday party and/or his birthday gifts are wrapped in Christmas paper. However, I've come to terms with the notion that he'll flip if it's important to him and if he doesn't, well, momma has to make some decisions.

I share a birthday with my brother and our birthdays frequently fall on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a particularly fun birthday because there is fasting. Oh joy. As a child, I worked around the shared birthday issue by having slumber parties from which my brothers could be excluded. As an adult, I began celebrating my birthday the Saturday after Labor Day. All of my friends know that's my unofficial birthday and it is generally convenient. I suppose that if Baby K's birthday is too near to Christmas, we can choose a Saturday in early December or January that will be the unofficial celebration date for birthday parties with friends and we'll have our own quiet celebration at home on the actual birthdate.

[Phoebe]

My birthday is January 5th. It is after X-mas (so maybe it is different) but I don't recall ever feeling shafted. My parents did a good job of keeping the occasions separate (no joint gifts, different paper, non X-mas desserts, etc). Now, if anything, I love having the advantage of the after X-mas sales.

Me too! My parents used to throw me a party when I was younger. When I got older, I remember getting a lot of combo gifts from relatives at Christmas.

[Chrisada]

Me too! My parents used to throw me a party when I was younger. When I got older, I remember getting a lot of combo gifts from relatives at Christmas.

I would usually have a big skating party or whatever at the very beginning of December. But I always swore that my children would not have a birthday around Christmas and here I am with one right on Christmas day!