Many people with December birthdays hate the fact that their birthday falls in the same month as Christmas.  In fact, there are so many of you that feel this way, this picture gets posted on Facebook every year…

I can understand how December birthdays can be annoying or frustrating for some people.  If your birthday comes just before Christmas, your birthday may get lumped in with Christmas. If the birthday falls closely after Christmas, it may get forgotten altogether.   A friend whose birthday was this week just told me that she used to get half of a gift for her birthday and the other half for Christmas.  For example, one year she received one ice skate on the 7th of December for her birthday and the matching skate on the 25th for Christmas.  Now that seems a little extreme!

I can also understand how a December birthday can create a dilemma for some families.  My dilemma was (I admit I should have gotten over it long ago) that my eldest son was born on the 12th, fairly close to Christmas.  When he was young, I would not start decorating or preparing for Christmas until the 13th when his birthday was over.  I told myself this practice was for his sake so he would not confuse his birthday with Christmas.  Since he has moved out he seems to be quite content with starting his Christmas shopping and decorating earlier than the 13th.  So, I guess that proves the dilemma is of my own creation, and could easily be fixed.

Today, two days earlier than usual on the 11th, I started my Christmas shopping, but first I dropped off my son’s birthday present at his new home…

You will notice two identical birthday presents here.  One is for my son and the other for his girlfriend whose birthday is also in December. As they will be on vacation on her actual birthday, she is getting hers early. That’s the excuse I am using, because the two gifts are a set, for both of them, and to give half the present on his birthday and half on hers two weeks later seems much too similar to the story I told above.

I haven’t mentioned yet, her birthday is after Christmas, on the 31st of December!  A New Year’s Eve baby; now that’s a whole new dilemma!