Finally, you've been waiting 365 days for the happiest day in the whole month of December! No, I don't mean Christmas--I mean your December birthday. That's right guys, other things happen in December besides Christmas! I know... crazy, right? Who isn't distracted by the joyful holiday cheer full of lights, red and green color schemes, and Santa Claus, of course. On the real though, some of us are thinking about our birthday.
Those of you who were born earlier in the month have it a bit easier, but people like me? Oh no, when your birthday is two days after Christmas it becomes REALLY REALLY difficult for people to acknowledge you (besides my wonderful parents who have always worked so very hard to separate the days).
The struggle is real when you hear, "I conjoined your birthday and Christmas gifts, hope you don't mind!" I do. I do mind. I get it, money can be tight and you're probably all focused on your own holiday activities, but you could at least wrap them in different paper. I don't need to see Rudolph for the thousandth time--especially on my birthday.
Do you know how hard it is to be happy on your birthday when everyone around you is feeling the effects of the Holiday Hangover? Christmas is over, leftovers are served for every meal, presents have all been opened (except mine of course), and the living room is a mess with wrapping paper and tree needles. No one wants to feel joy after that whole mess, but you do it anyways because dang it's birthday time!
Something I don't think many folks think about is the combination of finals and December birthdays. You want to give me three tests on the Monday after my birthday AND you expect me to study over the weekend? Good luck, professor. It's even worse for those who have to go in on their birthdays for an hour and a half just to take a test over a semester's worth of not listening and notebook doodling. Finals are horrifying to begin with; birthday finals are just plain evil.
December birthdays don't get to have those fun pool parties or bonfires that everyone else gets to; no, we get to sit inside and find other ways to distract ourselves so that we don't destroy the house or else mom will be yelling at you on your birthday. I'll just sit in the corner and eat my cake.
To top it all off, probably the worst thing of all, you don't get the fun throughout the year; it's all in one month! You get one day a year that's all about you and you have to share it with a holiday that's all about everyone. You don't get the nice birthday break in between last year's Christmas and this Christmas-- you get it all at once and then it's gone. You get to wait a whole year to get presents again and be jealous of your friends who don't. The. Struggle. Is. REAL.
So next time your dreaming of sugar plums and reindeer, remember those of us that are lost and forgotten amidst the horrors of the holidays. Please love us and let us know that you know that it's our birthday season as well, and please, for all that is good in the world, do NOT wrap our birthday gifts in holiday wrapping paper.
