CeLeBRaTe!! {Day 8 ~ Birthdays, Birthdays!}

"We are glad that you were born!" 

That's the idea we want to communicate when we celebrate a person's birthday.  And there are probably as many ways of doing that as there are people! 

Today, I'll tell you some of the ways have celebrated the birthday person. You may have some of the same traditions, or you may find inspiration for something new!  

Start the day with a special breakfast.

Sometimes we have made birthday toast, using the "Happy Birthday" stamp my mother gave us. (Yes, Mom passed her celebration gene down to me!) Apparently, it's been awhile since we've done this, because when I toasted the prop for this photo, Bekah said "What is birthday toast?" I'll make her some this year.  

Let the Birthday Boy or Girl choose a special activity.

Whether it's going to the zoo, having a movie marathon, going to Starbucks, or staying in pajamas all day, it's a simple thrill to plan something fun. (As homeschoolers, we even take the day off from school.) 

Have the Birthday Person choose the meal and the birthday dessert.

I love cooking my family's favorite foods for their birthdays. Ron almost always asks for lima beans and dumplings and homemade biscuits...he's a country boy at heart! But I have made everything from macaroni and cheese to pancakes to chili. Nowadays, the girls usually choose to go to their favorite Mexican restaurant.

Birthday dessert is also open for requests. Sometimes there is the traditional birthday cake, but it could just as easily be pie or scones or rice pudding. One year, a birthday child asked for cheesecake, but when said child saw me looking through my recipes, the request was clarified.  "No, Mom...I want one of those mix cheesecakes," meaning Jello instant-just-add-milk kind of cheesecake. So much for Mom's home cooking that time! 

Make a singing phone call!

For years, my mom called her children and grandchildren to sing "Happy Birthday" to them over the phone on their special day. (She still calls, but doesn't sing these days...something about "sparing" us?) Now I make the singing phone calls to all of my grandchildren. And guess what? My grandchildren call and sing "Happy Birthday" to all of us! I have several messages on my answering machine of such calls. I. cannot. erase. them.  Cannot.  

The gift goes on. 

Tell your children the story of their birth. 

This is one of my favorite parts. At some point in the day, I tell my children about the circumstances of their birth. It is not always from start to finish. It might be about the day, or about who came to see them, or about what we were doing the day before. It might be about the months before the birth, or the difficult circumstances that preceded, and how the Lord provided. There may be laughs and there may be tears. But I want my children to know that they are loved and wanted and that God had a plan for them before they even existed.  

"My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." (Psalm 139:15, 16 NASV)

How do you say, "I'm glad that you were born"?

This is Day 8 in the series CeLeBRaTe!!  Click ~here~ to see more.