“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde
The world’s population is apparently 6,973,738,433, so it’s bound to be someone’s birthday today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Thing is, I love birthdays. I love making a fuss about it and I like giving presents. As a matter of fact (how convenient to have this theme this week ), it was my birthday last week! And Micki’s son as well – so happy birthday to him as well !!! I make sure my husband and my girls make a lot of fuss about it, too. My treat this year, as every year, LOL, was that we went to the beach. We had a brilliant time.
Anyway, I’m going off track. See, I don’t need big presents or flowers, but I get a real kick out of a “happy birthday”. I got tons of happy birthdays from my FB friends (without wanting to show off), who, and without wanting to de-value their intentions, I suppose just acted on the FB reminder. Doesn’t matter! Every time the my phone “pinged” I got really excited about another birthday wish. So, let me tell you lovely people out there, please keep writing “Happy Birthday” when FB is reminding you. It doesn’t take much, and might make someone else’s day as well.
Obviously, I’m not really fond of people saying ‘just another year older’. It’s such a shame, because we should embrace the “another year older’ and celebrate ‘another year’. Don’t do the number crunching. Who cares what the number is. How old am I? I know, of course I do. I get asked often enough, but am I conscious of the number? Hell, no! Am I twenty? Thirty? Forty? I’m definitely not Fifty, I would’ve remembered the big trip away for the “0” birthdays.
But it’s not just about me. I always try to have funds for kids party or something special. Let them celebrate. Let them know it’s something special to have a birthday. I curse myself every time when I have more than five extra kids in the house, but seeing my girls smile all day long makes up for it!
Do you celebrate your birthday? Please say ‘yes’ !!!!
PS – that’s my little girl on the pic. They’re obviously enjoying the time at the beach as well 😉
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
We celebrate tons of birthdays. Who doesn’t like a party? Let’s see, it starts with my niece in Jan. Then we have my Sister in law, Jeanine, my MIL, my Mom and another neice in Feb. For Mom’s bday we go out do a fancy dinner. In March are my two goobers’ bdays, so we do a joint party, April hosts my FIL, niece and BIL. May is another niece, June is the best with 2 anniversaries, my bday, my hubbies bday, my gram’s bday and my brother’s bday. Add Father’s day in there too just to make things exciting. July: Dad, brother and SIL, Aug actually has nothing. Sept is a neice and our anniv. Oct hosts two nephews. Nov is nothing, but Dec has my little Bug’s bday and my niece’s bday on Christmas day. Each of these has parties we attend. The summer bdays get a beach birthday with a chicken bbq. Birthdays are craziness in our family. But we’re blessed that we all live in the same town, so getting together isnt’ hard.
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OMG ! I love the sound of that … it seems your year is one big birthday celebration – with a break in August 😉
Thanks for stopping by. Much appreciated!
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Great post Iris! I make a big deal out of my kids’ birthdays but not my own. 🙂
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Well, Lisa, that could be your new-years-resolution ‘make a big fuss about my birthday’ …. you deserve it! Glad to hear your making a big deal of of your kids’ birthday, though!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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I love your outlook on birthdays! I wish everyone felt that way! My favorite is throwing surprise parties. SO fun 🙂
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Does that include organising, Wendy ? LOL …. I love parties too, not sure about the organising though …
Thanks for stopping by ….
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Birthdays are definitely meant to be celebrated. It’s an important milestone, whether your age ends in a zero or not. Like you, when hubby and the kids ask what I want for birthday or Christmas, I prefer the time spent together doing something fun – whether it’s going out to eat, seeing a show, or just “hanging out”. Great post!
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Thanks Patty. Yes, I noticed again, last week, that even though my girls were excited giving me presents, the fact that the day was still during the holidays and we got to go away was much more fun. “Mum’s day” – and they made sure I felt special with little things like letting me decide on dinner, or not whinging, or not arguing ….. LOL …. doesn’t sound like much, but every mum knows it’s the world !
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LOVE birthdays!! Even my own, which is an “anniversary” of being 42. AGAIN. LOL!!! how do we celebrate? Dinner out, CAKE of course, and having fun with family/friends. It’s not the gifts. It’s a time to cherish being here one more year. Many people don’t get that chance!! that’s how I look at it anyway. 🙂 And HAPPY BIRTHDAY again!! glad you had fun.
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LOL, Meg … Yes, I’ve been turning 21 for the last …. hmmm …. few years. Too funny. No cake though in this family …. LOL. And I wholeheartedly agree on cherishing being here another here!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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We go out for a meal and ‘do something’ together. It may not be a ‘big’ something but we make it special on birthdays. When at school I always had an exam to sit on my birthday so after I left I make sure I always have fun on my birthday.
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Hi Sherry. You’re right, it doesn’t need to be “big”, but it needs to be remembered. Ouch, on the exam sitting … that would really hurt, but good on ya for celebrating even more 😉
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Happy birthday, Iris!
Again.
Did your phone ping just now? Ha.
Well, I’m not much of a birthday guy, I guess. My mom says it may be because I was born two weeks before Christmas that my b-day got lost in the shuffle of the holidays. [Maybe so, even though she was very careful NOT to put up any Christmas stuff until my birthday had passed.]
I think what bothers me about birthdays — of my grandkids, for example — is that they get so much STUFF. Expensive stuff! Not sure why that hits me wrong: it’s not that I don’t want them to be able to enjoy nice things. Perhaps it’s because I hope they’ll value aspects of life which are not wrapped in boxes. But birthdays these days seem to focus on scale, expense, and numbers (& costs) of gifts.
Of course, you were not referring to gifts in you post today — instead, you (rightly) highlight the celebration of the person and their life. That IS the proper perspective. One which too many of the younger people apparently miss.
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Hmm …. interesting! Yes, having a birthday around xmas sucks. A friend’s birthday is just a few days before xmas and usually gets forgotten ….
As for presents. I hesitantly agree … it’s a fine line we parents need to walk – make a fuss, but don’t let the children think it’s all about presents. We usually give the girls the presents the night before, so dad is there as well (he usually left for work around 6am) … so the actual birthday is all about phone calls, hanging up the birthday cards, cuddles (that’s me, I can’t resist) and their favourite dinner and desert! But yes, my little one has a tendency to “think” presents when it comes to birthdays!
PS – no, phone’s turned to silent when i’m at work – don’t tell anybody I’m writing this while at work 😉
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I love birthdays! Everyone else’s, as well as my own and make a point of shouting and screaming about them no matter the age.
Great post, Iris. Most people I know think I’m mad the way I insist on celebrating every single year whether it ends in a zero or not. Now I know I’m not alone x
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Oh, Suzie – I love the shouting out bit !! I could have a banner in front of the house “Birthday celebration here today” …. would be just my thing.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Hope you’ll shout out when it’s your birthday this year! 🙂
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Love birthdays, too! A special day is needed every once in a while. AND like Alice, I like un-birthdays, too! In fact, today is a very merry unbirthday to me
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I feel like saying “Who the heck is Alice”, but I’m afraid that shows a lack of …. hmmm … education, something ? LOL
MERYY UNBIRTHDAY, JILLIAN ! 🙂
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Alice in Wonderland?
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Does she say unbirthday? Not familiar with the story …. 😦
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Isn’t that Facebook birthday reminder the best? And I realize it takes all of 10-20 seconds to type “Happy Birthday”, but it’s amazing how those two small words remind me that someone thought I was worth those 10-20 seconds. I felt bad I wasn’t able to respond to everyone who took the time that day, cause you know, I was out doing birthday-type thingies by going to lunch and what not, but I still get a smile just thinking about how nice it felt.
And I also embrace the birthday. No crawling under the couch and hiding. The day is coming for me so I face it head on, and if it brings another wrinkle or gray hair…so be it! The best age to be is any age I haven’t gotten to yet. (I will be 97 in the nursing home, sitting in my rocking chair telling whatever orderly will listen to me that the best age to be is 99! Of course I may be so senile that I truly believe I’m 25, but I’ll be happy!)
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Bwahhahahaha about sitting in a rocking chair at 97 …. LOL …. I can see myself celebrating every day as a “not dead yet day” …
Yes I love the reminder …. and I agree, it doesn’t take much and makes someones day …. glad I’m not the only one liking them 😉
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I love birthdays… but its our daughters we make a special effort for. One was born on 23 Dec and the other on the 30th, so we actually make sure hubs is home on those days, so we can celebrate with them.
We always felt that being so close to Christmas they might get lost, so we offered them both the chance at an “echo” birthday, where they could choose a date in the middle of the year for their presents and just cards on the real date.
Both declined. So we must be doing something right for them 🙂 As they don’t feel they have missed out on their special day in the middle of the festive season.
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Awww …. I like it that ‘dad’ is home those days! Good on him.
Yes, having a birthday near Christmas can sometimes be unfortunate, but as you said, you must be doing something ‘more than right’, not only in the sense of giving them a wonderful ‘birth-day’, but also for your daughters to be aware that you cannot just move a ‘birthday’ to a more convenient spot. You must be very very proud of them!
Thanks for stopping by, Imogene …. nice ‘meeting’ you 🙂
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