If I'm honest, the real reason I'm writing this is because at the beginning of the month when I wrote out my goals "write a blog post" was one of those goals. So, here I am on the second-to-last day of the month searching through my blog ideas I've emailed myself over the years to find something to write about.
And as we approach the day my baby turns two, I'm thinking through the traditions I've started for my girls' birthdays. We keep it low key, things I never in a million years would imagine I may be prevented from doing. But in the midst of what is transpiring in the world around us all, I realize even the little things shouldn't be taken for granted. I also realize that perspective changes everything. During this pandemic, as special times roll around, it's difficult to celebrate how you want to, how you normally would. I joked that all April birthdays and Easter are being canceled this year. Of course, that's not true. Yes, the cultural events and expectations surrounding those holidays may change, or be postponed, but you can't cancel my daughter's, my husband's, my nephews', my aunt's, my brother's, my brother-in-law's, my cousin's, my friends' birthdays (yes, there are THAT many direct relations with birthdays in April. Dalia BARELY made it to the ONE day in a row that contained no other family birthdays!). And, you certainly can't cancel the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
Things will look different in 2020. It's a weird time. A weird year. It's unprecedented. It's historical.
So, while these holidays will look different than our "normal," they're special! They're history in the making! Maybe celebrating our people and our Lord in the midst of this pandemic is exactly what we need to keep things in perspective.
But, just for a minute, let's pretend we aren't in the middle of a crazy COVID-19 pandemic and talk about the birthday traditions I've started for my girls (... and for me).
1. Birthday shirt! Every year the girls get a shirt personalized for them. Here's a plug for NapTimeApparel - she's super creative and makes the best shirts. For their first birthday they each got one with their name. For their future birthdays it's their age - and, frugal (...cheap) as I am, Dalia will get the hand-me-down birthday shirts from her sister.
2. Photo shoot! I put the girls in their birthday shirts and head to the beach! Probably the only fun part about this for the girls is that they get to go to the beach. I like to bring at least 2 other people with me to help with positioning the birthday girl, the props, and doing whatever it takes to make the little one look at the camera and smile. We do two photo shoots. One - we go out to the pier and take pictures under and around the pier on the beach. I take a LOT of pictures. I just use my DSLR Canon and have always been very pleased with the photos. The main photo I'm hoping for here is one good picture of the birthday girl holding a framed photo of her from her birthday last year. So, for her first birthday she held a baby photo. For her second birthday she held the photo of her holding her baby photo. For her third birthday she held the photo of her on her 2nd birthday holding the photo of her holding her baby photo ("they don't know that we know they know we know" haha). Two - we go out onto a boardwalk with balloons. The main photo I'm hoping for here is one good picture of the birthday girl with the number of balloons of her age.
3. Birthday gathering! I wouldn't even really call it a party because it's super low key. We have the grandparents, our local "framily," our best friends/"aunt/uncle" to our girls, and sometimes 1 or 2 other very close friends over to the house for some fellowship, food, birthday song singing and cake. As of yet we do not have a kid-friend party. I have started traditions within the birthday gathering, too. Every birthday we set up the tripod and take a group photo. And every birthday I get a birthday card and have every person who attends write a note and sign it. Then I print the group photo, put it in the card, and stick it in their memory box.
4. A "YES" Day! I hate to even type this because I know this is how it should be every day, but I'm keeping it real. On their birthdays I try to keep the phone and electronic usage to a minimum, if at all. And I give them a "yes" day. As long as it's safe and feasible, we do whatever the birthday girl wants to do. The requests of a three and one-year-old haven't been extreme, or much of anything, besides maybe watching a movie and having a snack when they normally wouldn't haha. I know as they get older these requests will become crazier, but I hope I can continue to say "yes" to whatever they want to do and make their birthday extra special.
So, Dalia's birthday is coming up (so is David's, but now that there's a baby birthday the day after his he gets a little overshadowed!) - and it's not going to be able to look like I want it to look. Birthday shirt is still a go- she has Adleigh's hand me down. As of now, we can still go to the beach so I can do the photo shoot. As of now, grocery stores are still open so I'm hoping I will be able to get her 2 balloons - but that's not a guarantee. Neither is actually being able to go to the beach. I thought about doing all of this now, weeks ahead, but at this age she seriously changes so much, so quickly, it's too soon. The main thing is her birthday gathering - which is actually super ironic because we had the WORST time picking a date for it this year! Between Easter and Spring Break this year there wasn't a good date when everyone would be in town to come over. So I painstakingly made an executive decision for the date of the party and now it's totally a moo point ("Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." haha)! There will be no birthday gathering - it will likely just be the 4 of us. But there will still be a birthday celebration! There will still be a "yes" day and there will still be cake. And, let's be honest, what else matters besides the cake?!
