Some Questions about Birthdays

And – happy Friday!!  It is supposed to be another glorious day here today!  I’m quite excited about it.  The front porch is finished and looking festive (thanks to yesterday’s beauty of a day) and I am headed out today to visit a friend.  I have to drive towards the mountains which should be beautiful and then we will spend the day chatting, thrifting, browsing, and chatting some more.  Today’s post is actually my answers for this month’s Ten on the Tenth…and all about birthdays.  Completely random but, nevertheless, should be fun.  I don’t always get all ten questions answered – some I just don’t have an answer for?! – but I think it will be fun just the same.  And, by the wasy, the rest of the link-up will not be up and running until Monday.  I will link back later…..

1.  What is your earliest birthday memory?  I am not positive about the year but I must have been turning six….or very close to that.  The birthday party was at my house and six or seven of the neighborhood girls were there.  We played the traditional birthday party games – think Pin the Tail on the Donkey – and, of course, had cake and ice cream.  What I remember are the party dresses.  Everyone came in pretty “party” dresses. No one wore play clothes…..did you have specific clothes just for play?  We certainly did and we definitely did not wear them to school but would change as soon as we got home from school.  Apparently, we also had specific clothes for (birthday) parties.  With our dresses, all the girls wore ruffled socks and patent leather shoes.  I clearly can see all of us gathered around our family dining room table.  So very fancy:)

2.  What is your favorite birthday tradition?  We have always had some type of “celebration” – even if just cake with candles – on the actual birthday.  Of course, when the kiddos were young, their parties were often on the weekend.  Actually, that often happens even now.  But whenever the birthday might be celebrated (with friends…and gifts!), there just has to be something on the actual birthday as well.  That is pretty easy to do these days but easily became a bit much back in the day.  We had two children with back-to-back birthdays – which meant cake at the party, cupcakes to the classroom, AND cake on the actual day.  Read that:  lots of cake (and lots of cake decorating)!

3.  How do you like to celebrate birthdays?  These days (as adults…and old ones at that), we celebrate by eating out.  We try to go to the birthday person’s favorite restaurant (or favorite type of restaurant)…and the birthday person gets to order for everyone at the table.  This has mixed reviews but is still fun!

4.  What is the best birthday gift you ever received?  My freshman year of college was tough for me.  The homebody.  I made a great friend (we are still best of friends) the first semester and coped fairly well; however, she did not return second semester and I struggled.  I just felt lost that semester.  My birthday was just a few weeks before the semester ended.  I was feeling rather miserable (and, no doubt, was pretty miserable to be around).  I attended Liberty (waaay back in the day when it was LBC and not yet a University) and we rode buses to and from church.  The Sunday evening of my birthday I was having a major pity party.  Shockingly, I could not find any of my friends after church and rode the bus back to the dorms alone.  Imagine my surprise (and boy was it a surprise) when I arrived home to a huge surprise party!  Not only was I completely surprised but I felt ever so loved.  Truthfully.  It was (one of) the best ever, for sure!

5. What is the best birthday gift you have ever given?  Two years after Tyler died, we surprised our daughter with a doggie for her birthday.  It was exactly what she needed….and a gift that she never could have imagined.  Actually, we all needed that furry friend:)  But what fun that surprise was!!

6.  If money were no object, what would be the best way to celebrate your birthday?  I would travel to the UK.  I would visit all the beautiful villages and all the quaint cottages.  And, I would take all my family with me.  They might not be as excited as me (and would probably pick another destination as their first choice…but, hey, it’s my birthday dream!)

7.  What is your favorite birthday treat?  For breakfast, I would have fresh bakery-style bagels and cream cheese.   Lots of cream cheese.  For dinner, I would have Thai food.  Probably, Pad Thai – but some type of noodles, for sure and for certain.  And, for dessert, I would have banana pudding.  Homemade banana pudding.  Three things I sorely miss since starting Keto.  Sigh.

8.  How long do you celebrate your birthday?  What does this even mean?  I “celebrate” once a year…for one day.  Isn’t that what everyone does?? (see disclaimer above!)

9.  What is the best thing about your birthday?  Truthfully, I do not enjoy my birthday…or (I should say) the celebrating of it.  I know that is silly but it is the truth.  However, my family does a wonderful job of making me feel special, appreciated, and loved.  They all do – but especially my daughter.  Celebrating birthdays is her own type of love language, I think:)

10.  What is your sign?  I believe I am a Taurus – however, I have no idea what that means or implies.  I know nothing of zodiacs, astrology, and the like. Perhaps I should have ended at nine.  Oh well.

Let me know what your favorite birthday meal or birthday treat is!!  And I hope everyone has a beautiful Friday and weekend ahead!!  Please come back on Monday!