My Kids Share a Birthday on Christmas Eve and Don't Feel Bad for Them
With two munchkins born on the same day (still can’t believe it) AND that day happens to be Christmas Eve (really really still can’t believe it), I’m often asked how I plan to make their birthdays special. In fact, it’s the number one follow up question: How do you handle their birthdays?! Is it hard to make them feel special?
Sometimes, people even go so far as to dramatically say, “That stinks, I’m so sorry.”
Alrighty guys. It’s time for some real talk.
First of all, I LOVE that my babies share a birthday! What a distinctive and fun opportunity for traditions super unique to just our family! We are so excited for how much we can foster their support for one another through sharing a birthday--I have zero doubts it’ll bond them, not create a rift.
Why am I confident about that? Because our kids approach everything with the attitude WE as the parents approach them. If I ever said to my son, “I’m sorry you have to share your birthday with your sister,” he’d see it as a bummer. But because I’m excited about how special it is, HE is excited about how special it is!
Some of you are thinking, “But when he gets older, he’ll wish he had the day to himself.”
Um. Not if I’m raising him the way I hope I’m raising him! Here’s the other thing about sharing birthdays that also bleeds into my feelings about their birthdays being on Christmas Eve: I am raising kids who will not feel entitled to the world shutting down for them--yes, even on their birthday. THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND THEM.
As they get older and see other kids having a “whole day to themselves,” I hope it doesn’t even register to them that that’s something “everyone deserves.” If they DO bring it up, it’ll be a perfect opportunity to talk about how we can celebrate important events and be SO happy they were born, but literally every single person alive has a birthday. So our birthdays are important to *us*, but they don’t have to be important to everyone else!
Then comes the positive spin (especially when they’re younger): Other people can celebrate only Christmas Eve on December 24th, but GET THIS! We get to celebrate TWO things at once! How cool is that?? Double whammy!
Besides, I hope they know they are loved and supported on days other than their birthday. I hope Aaron and I make them feel special each night as we read books before bed and list all the reasons we love them. I hope they feel special when we eat dinner at the table and ask about their day, when we get excited when they learn to ride a bike, and when we cheer as they perfectly crack an egg without getting any shell in the bowl.
They don’t need their own, separate birthdays to feel loved.
They don’t need a day of the year for an undistracted, unrivaled celebration to feel appreciated.
So, guys, feel free to stop worrying on our kids’ behalfs. They are going to be just fine, trust me. They get to have a pajama brunch every Christmas Eve morning and open their one *YEP ONE* present from us for their birthday (it’d be just one even if they were born in June). They get to associate the smell of sausage gravy and waffles and the sight of matching PJs as a beautiful reminder of their birthday tradition. They get to experience the good feelings that come with exchanging happy birthdays with their best friend, our goal to expand the tradition as they get older to include each of them expressing why they’re glad the other was born.
They get to live a life with a roof over their heads and two parents who adore them and a sibling to play with and a God who loves them. They have the capacity to celebrate the birth of themselves, their sibling, and Jesus all at the same time.
So, with that, Happy Almost Birthday to my sweet babies, and Merry Christmas!
