At our house, we barely have time to clean up the aftermath of Christmas before we are back in the party mood. Trina’s birthday is two days after Christmas and I am not allowed to forget that fact. Growing up with you birthday this close to Christmas must have been murder. After all, no one is going to be interested in sending a kid to a birthday party this close to a major holiday. And gift giving kind of gets lost between buying Christmas presents for everyone then having to come up with a birthday present besides. I’m sure there have been times where Trina got pajama tops for Christmas and pajama bottoms for her birthday just to spread the gifts out across both occasions. Sure there are perks to this like you never had to go to school on your birthday but then you never had a chance for your mom to bring treats to elementary school and have the kids sing to you either so I guess it can go both ways. I’ve always been sympathetic to this dilemma and since we’ve been married I have tried to do something special for her.
When we were dating I threw a surprise party for her with all of her friends. Logistically that was a nightmare trying to round people up a couple of days after Christmas. It seems a lot of families like to travel during the holidays making it especially difficult to plan an event. I’ve taken her to concerts and shows for her birthday which is definitely not within my normal routine so that should count as a double act of kindness if you ask me. And since we have had kids I’ve made sure that each of the children also made a big deal out of their mother’s birthday. With all she does for each of us, this is the least I can do. This year my oldest daughter Ashley took charge of her mother’s birthday celebration and wanted everything themed around the gifts. My only responsibility was to make sure we didn’t run out of money. That may sound easy but it was harder than you would think. As the kids were trying to come up with a theme, it seems my ideas were completely shut out. They vetoed the idea that everything should be Sedona Red and they were positive that all gifts should not contain either an “A†or a “D†logo. They especially flipped when I suggested that perhaps what Trina really wanted was a tour of Chase Field and dinner at Friday’s Front Row Grill. In the end I was relinquished to team financial advisor and nothing more. The day seemed to be a success as all of Trina’s gifts revolved around scrapbooking and Disney. Given our recent trip last summer for our anniversary, I guess that was ok. And in the end I did get to slip some Diamondbacks stuff into it since most every picture we have of us at the parks I am wearing my Arizona Diamondbacks hat or jersey. Granted they are the traditional classic purple and turquoise but it’s better than not getting the team involved at all.
Leave a comment