In our family, we tend to have "clumps" of birthdays/anniversaries/holidays, and we are in the midst of a very thick clump right now.
At our address alone (so, not counting any extended family!), from June 18th through July 23rd, we have FOUR (4) birthdays and one anniversary (ours!). Other than the anniversary, there was not a whole lot we could have done to change this; of course, the anniversary happened first, so...
That can be complicated (and expensive!) enough, but when you begin throwing in aunts', uncles', and cousins' birthdays in there, our calendar begins to resemble a work of abstract art.
To give you an idea of the "evolution" of this particular season (and my anxiety!), allow me to present a brief timeline of events:
June, 1994-We are married! Who cares if our anniversary will occur two weeks before my birthday every year? Doesn't that just mean he has to buy me an extra-special piece of jewelry?
June, 1995-Our first child is born just 5 days after our 1st anniversary! Things have come full-circle! Of course, with this baby's birthday looming so close to mine, I may have to take a back seat in the gift-receiving department.
July, 2000-Our third child (and first daughter!) is born EXACTLY 2 weeks after my birthday and EXACTLY one month after her oldest brother's 5th birthday! Hmmm.... Two kids' birthdays a month apart, with my birthday thrown smack-dab in the middle... This could be interesting.
July, 2007-When the OB scheduled my c-section for 5 days before our daughter's 7th birthday, I began to panic (and not due to the surgery!). How the HECK were we going to do parties, cakes, presents, etc????? (If you've read my other posts, then you know that I am a list-maker and this kind of thing throws even the best of us into a major tizzy!)
I am relieved to report that two years later, the kids are thoroughly enjoying this birthday-cake-filled month. And, me? I am just happy if someone else makes dinner for me on my "day of days". Really.
The Christmas Holidays have also been a bit crazy since our fourth child was born (early!) on December 23rd, 2002. His actual birth day and his first birthday (and those Christmas mornings) were not exactly fun for him or me, but we have learned how to separate and really enjoy both events.; it DID take a bit of work to convince my son that the Christmas Tree was not his Birthday Tree, though!
And, now, we are happily faced with an addition to the season of clumped occasions this coming December! By my best estimations this new baby will arrive the second week of December, a mere two weeks before his/her brother's 7th birthday and Christmas. The panic has not begun to set in yet.
For now, I'm just trying to focus on how it will be "so much fun" to send out birth announcements with a holiday theme, adding another Christmas stocking to the collection, remembering to make sure that Santa knows that he has to leave a gift for the new baby, and so on.
THAT is the lesson I have learned in all this clumping: if you cannot keep your focus on the fun things for which you should be grateful, then you will become a bitter Mommy who resents the day(s) her children were born.
Yes, birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays are all expensive and busy things. But, all of them commemorate a special event in our lives; events that have probably changed us permanently, and hopefully for the better!
And, my kids may roll their eyes when I refer to them as my Summer Babies, Spring Babies, or (gasp!) Kissy-Christmas Babies, but I know that it makes them feel special and loved. I have even caught them using some of those terms when they refer to each other (e.g. "He's one of the Summer Babies").
So, I say, "Bring on the clumps!"!
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