My 39th Birthday!

When I was young, I just loved having my birthday around Christmastime. It was already a magical, happy time of year. As I remember it, we usually got our Christmas Tree right around my birthday. With a mom and a dad, and five siblings, my birthday seemed like a great celebration even if it was just family. On my birthday, I got to choose what I wanted for dinner. I remember choosing spaghetti one year, and steak another. I wonder now how much that one cost. I didn't have to do dishes that night and we'd have cake (made by my mom) and ice cream. It was fantastic. I think sometimes I even had a friend over to help celebrate. It was simple, but just wonderful to me. I really, really enjoyed it and felt very special on my birthday.

Once I met Will, his parents made it even more fun by taking Will and I out to dinner to celebrate both of our birthdays together. One year, they sent us on a day cruise out of Port Canaveral and another year we went to Bush Gardens in Tampa and then The Kapoc Tree for dinner. It was so much fun!

As I have gotten older, things are a little bit different. December 15th is such a difficult time to have a birthday now. In the same week, we have Will's birthday, gymnastics party, school party (and the last week of school before Christmas) and then my birthday. There is so much to plan and do. I am usually so exhausted by my birthday that I just want to do nothing all day.

And to add to the mayhem, this year we were traveling home just a few days after my birthday and there was a lot of planning an packing to do. (It was so worth it, though. See posts to come).

This year my birthday fell on a Saturday, a day that I knew would be a good day to try and help our friends with the clean-up from the flood. I didn't feel much like celebrating when they had so much to do, so I spent a couple of hours helping out, then came home and Will had taken the kids to the mall. So I curled up on the couch with a blanket and watched a movie until they came home. It was a nice break.

We had been eating Will's cake for three days now, so I really didn't want any more sweets. And Will had been sick with a cold since his birthday, so he didn't really want to cook much (and honestly I didn't want him to either). We skipped cake and had presents and a couple of days later, made my birthday pie. It's a raw pie with almonds, pecans, walnuts, dates, sea salt and honey for the crust and frozen strawberries and bananas inside, with strawberries and bananas on top. It was so delicious!! I think I want that every year.

Amy sent me these wonderfully warm slippers (they have reheatable inserts that keep your feet so comfy) and Alabama shirt and I curled up on the couch again, watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" with Cody and fell asleep.

It was a great birthday, but I really want to start celebrating in October. I say that every year in December, but always forget about it in October.