Birthday Traditions!

Aaron has asked me to share on the topic of birthdays. I would hope that most people look forward to their birthdays, I mean what’s not to like? There’s cake (or pie!), ice cream, family, friends, fire...I mean candles, and let us not forget PRESENTS!

When I think of birthdays, I think about traditions!  For some, birthday traditions might mean having those things I mentioned above: cake and candles, presents, and family. For me, it is all about my Grandma Ledebur. All of my favorite birthday traditions happen to involve my Grandma.  

See, my Grandma always wants to make your birthday extra special, so she has each of us over for our "birthday dinner". You even have a special seat at the table. You see, for as long as I can remember, and probably even before that my Grandma places coins under the birthday boy/girl's plate equaling how old they are. So when I turned 26, under my plate was a quarter and a shiny penny. Even though it is a small amount of money, we all look forward to it. It makes you feel loved. Additionally, my Grandma also insists on making whatever you want for your meal. My dinner is typically roast beef with and vegetables.  It doesn’t matter how many times I have my Grandma’s roast beef, it always tastes amazing and she always seems to put love into to making it. Then we finish each birthday meal with a delicious chocolate cake or dessert of your choice. She just recently turned 92 and so for her birthday I wanted to make her her own cake. It turned out well and was a pretty cool experience. And now I will hopefully one day get to continue these traditions she carried on with my family.

But traditions need to start somewhere. For instance, I am sure my Grandma had someone putting money under her plate when she was a little girl and therefore she carries on that tradition with us. It is often our family who implants the traditions in our lives. For me, these traditions carry over to my faith, my friends, and work. They get ingrained in my friendships and I think that traditions are most fun when you can share them with others.

So why do birthdays matter? Because they are a reminder, yes of how old we are, but also because they are a tradition you will celebrate each year with the people you care about the most. So if you have a birthday coming up, Happy Birthday and make sure to celebrate and carry on those traditions! (Insert funny have your cake and eat it too line!)