Confession: Birthday Wishes

I am 39 and I am finally ok with sharing my Birthday time with New Years and Jesus. Don’t get me wrong I feel a deep compassion for anyone who has a birthday in December. My mother confessed to me recently that I always got one present less then everyone else for Christmas so she could save it for my birthday. I really didn’t notice that, but I do remember being forgotten in the holiday rush more than once. And celebrating with your friends is next to impossible as they too have better things to do in the middle of the biggest shopping time of the year then remember a birthday. Although I did get a text from a friend a little after midnight wishing me a happy birthday, significantly contributing to my resignation to be happy with the time of my birth and substantially easing the pain of years of being forgotten. The truth is I am not good at remembering birthdays no matter what time of year. In fact it took me about 3 years to accurately remember my husbands birthday. And his is during the summer and really what more do you have to worry about than family during the summer? How hard can it be? So I’m not judging here at all.
But the only thing that trumps a birthday during the holiday season is death during the holiday season. While spending Christmas with Christ would be amazing (Imagine the party), the loved ones left behind would not only be sad but would have a difficult time rearranging everything to get to the funeral. In the end I’ve decided that celebrating my birthday is better than mourning my death. So here’s to hoping that friends and family would be around for either/or.