Two of my best female friends are Capricorns (born Dec 25 and sometime early Jan, respectively--I never get the date quite right for the latter). My husband? Jan 4. And then I had babies in-between semesters to get round being unable to afford to take maternity leave, which resulted in children born Dec 30 and Jan 3. All very nice in that, if astrology holds any water whatsoever, I have a convenient handle on the major personality traits of all my nearest and dearest.
Though I was a slacker about my friends' birthdays (hopefully our relationships are strong enough to withstand a smidge of negligence on my part) there was nonetheless a Problem: Children's birthdays in combination with the Xtide trek to grandparents in the midwest, doting daycare providers, preschool, and the kids themselves.
Winton and Clara celebrated their birthdays in Illinois on Jan 27 with snowman cupcakes and more toys to add to the Christmas piles.
On his actual birthday, Dec 30, when back in Baltimore for all of 18 hours (most of which were, for me, hazed-over with resentful exhaustion), Winton nonetheless got a special cupcake at Barnes and Noble, an extra long stint playing with their trains, many renditions of Happy Birthday and, once back at home, a chance to roll around in all of his new toys.
Clara--wildly, hysterically, excited about turning 4--celebrated her birthday again on the morning of Jan. 3 at school with chocolate chip cookies (3 doz, homemade) and a fiesta of party hats. While she was at school, I got her a new nightlight and flashlight for her birthday (gifts for a girl newly afraid of the dark). And then she was feted again in the afternoon when we picked her brother up at the daycare she herself used to go to and the owner, Maria, adoringly, insisted on getting out cake and candles and performing renditions of compleanos feliz over and over. And then I made her a birthday dinner of her choosing (rice, carrot sticks and fish sticks) which she ate to, of course, the sound of her brother and I singing Happy Birthday over and over.
Then Maria threw a daycare party for Winton on Jan 4 to make up for his having been away on his actual birthday (this required me wrapping party favors and attaching fiddly bows to them on the night of the 3rd): on the 4th, more cake. And when Clara and I came to get him on the afternoon of Jan 4, still more cake/candles/singing so she could celebrate her brother's birthday too. Winton got so enthused about candle-blowing (which he did 4 times while I was there, and must have done many times earlier in the day) that part of his blonde forlock was singed into tiny, stinking, smouldering ringlets.
Jan 4 is also Husband's birthday which meant that while the Winton was at daycare eating cake, I was at home making Husband's annual lemon cake and-- damningly late in the game--figuring out his birthday present. Night of Jan 4 then, Indian take-out and cake and singing (no candles--though Husband is younger than I am, 39 candles were simply too many to round up).
Next year I need to pace this differently. It would be nice to do Xtide once, and each birthday once. Still a bit orgiastic overall, but.
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