When I was younger, I always felt like I had to wait longer for my birthday to roll around in December. I loathed the thought of celebrating my birth in the dead of winter while it was probably snowing. I secretly wished I could have a birthday in any other season so I could go outside and do something fun with my friends. I truly thought my birthday sucked. Well, ten years later as a sophomore in college, I've realized that not much has changed.
Your birthday is always forgotten. In the midst of finals and Christmas, your special day is the last thought on people's minds. Your birthday most likely falls on the week before finals, the week of finals or you're home getting ready for the holidays. It's not your fault, you didn't choose to be born during this arctic tundra of a month. People just have more important things going on in their lives than to focus on your one special day. Your birthday is filled with, "oh my gosh I didn't know it was birthday!" or, "your gift is in the mail, sorry it'll be a little late!" Well, Aunt Marge, I'm pretty sure my birthday hasn't changed in the last 20 years so buy a calendar or something.
Birthday and Christmas gifts are the same. Some people don't realize that your birthday is totally different than Christmas. Your birthday is celebrating the blessed day that you came into the world. Christmas is for celebrating the day baby Jesus came into the world. See, two totally different birthdays. Everyone else gets two separate days of gifts, so why should ours be any different? How sad would you be if I gave you your birthday gift in June and told you it was also your Christmas gift as well? Probably pretty upset. Now you know how we feel.
Outdoor celebrations aren't a thing. Remember all of your friends with summer birthdays? Remember going to their pool parties or having water balloon fights? Unless you want to turn into a human icicle, you don't go outside for your birthday. Temperatures are always below freezing (unless you're lucky enough to live somewhere warm) and there might be snow on the ground as well. The last thing people want to do is go outside. When you were younger, you were lucky if people even came to your indoor birthday parties because the snow made the roads hard to drive on. You always got offended by the lack of effort made by your guests. What do you mean you won't risk your life to come to my glorious birthday event? I came to your dumb pool party, so you could at least come to mine? Instead of a night of fun, you were forced to reschedule or eat all that cake by yourself.
Everything is Christmas themed. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. However, good luck trying to find anything related to birthdays. Need birthday decor? You'll have to settle with some Christmas decorations and a tree. How about birthday wrapping paper? Nope, looks like you'll have to wrap that gift with paper decorated in Santa and his reindeer. We just have to face the facts: Christmas overshadows our birthday by a long shot. Everything Christmas is shoved down our throats in December and all we want is someone to stop and take the time to realize our birthdays count, too. But I'm not mad, just disappointed, that's all.
I promise I'm not bitter. In fact, I love the Christmas. The movies, the food, the music, the decorations, everything about the holiday season puts me in a festive mood. Despite the complaints and drawbacks to December birthday, there's something exciting about having a birthday so close to the most wonderful time of the year. Honestly, I wouldn't change anything about it.
