When I was a kid, I didn't like it because kids were always traveling for Christmas and it was difficult to have a birthday party. Plus, I could never bring in cupcakes to school on my actual birthday because we were always on Christmas break.
Fortunately, my mother also has a December birthday and could empathize with me, so she always made sure my birthday was a super special day and totally set apart from Christmas.
Now, I can see the "pro" to having my birthday so soon after Christmas... it always keep me from experiencing the "post-Christmas blues." Because the minute Christmas is over, I start looking forward to my birthday! Brian jokes that if the Christmas decorations aren't down by the 26th, something's wrong with me.
I think it took Brian a few years to realize how important birthdays are to me (in fact, I think he's still trying to figure out how to appease me on this topic), but he does a good job of making the day really special for me.
This year, I woke up to both boys wishing me "Happy Birthday Mommy!" and homemade cards, gifts and other wrapped goodies sitting on the coffee table. Of course, being only a few days after Christmas, Parker was eager to rip into the presents, confident that one of them was surely for him.
Sadly for him, all the gifts were indeed for me. :) Including this beautiful card that Payton made:
The pocket that says "Look in here" contained a handmade necklace out of yarn with the letters "I love you" on it. Melt. My. Heart.
I was fortunate enough to spend most of the day doing whatever I pleased, including shopping, a lunch out and then dinner with our friends Chuck & Monta.
They were so sweet to get me my all-time favorite chocolate cake from a local Tampa bakery. YUM-O!!
It was a wonderful day filled with family and friends.
Now for a little New Year's Eve re-cap...
We went over to our neighbor's house for some hot-tubing, dinner & fireworks.
I got all "sparkled-up" for the occasion! I figure it's the one time of year that I can actually pull off sparkly nail polish. :)
The boys had a great time hanging with their friends, and yet still made time for a few hugs.
The kids ate grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, while the adults enjoyed grilled filets, asparagus and cheesy potatoes. Delish!
Avery even made cute signs for the big night:
After dinner, we headed out back for some fireworks!
The big kids loved running around with sparklers:
And even letting off some Roman candles across the water!
Unfortunately, Parker was NOT happy with the loud fireworks. So once they were finished, Brian took him home.
He made it until 9 p.m. though! That's a new record for him. :)
I stayed behind for a little while longer with Payton so he could play some "Just Dance" on the Wii and then we both headed home.
I barely made it to midnight, but Brian and I did actually watch the ball drop and get our New Year's Eve kiss in before shutting everything off at 12:03.
The next day was so perfect.
We woke up to a beautiful crisp morning, just right for staying in your jammies and drinking lots of coffee.
Brian made pancakes for breakfast, which were really good.
Then we lazed around the house playing with toys, enjoying each other and relaxing.
Parker took a nice, long nap (making up for the night before no doubt), and then we all headed to the park on our bikes.
Of course we had to stop in at Starbucks and refuel!
Then we hung out in the driveway, playing with some leftover "Pop-It's" (strangely, Parker loves these, even though their super loud).
The weather was so nice, we stayed outside the entire afternoon...
Taking a walk around the neighborhood:
Enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze:
And feeding the fish at our pond:
It was a lovely way to welcome in the New Year.
Happy 2013 everyone!!!
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