YAY, It’s My Birthday!

This week is my birthday week!

That’s right, in our family, we don’t just have a birthday….. We string it out for a whole week! I love birthdays and so we make it last as long as we can. It’s always fun to open a card or a pressie that has arrived after your actual day, and it’s not like you can eat your whole cake in one day, so it makes sense to have a whole week of birthday celebrations….. Right?

It was actually my birthday on Monday and I had an amazing day. My family (with much encouragement from me over the years) has learned how important birthdays are to me, and they outdid themselves this year.

For me, it’s not all about the presents (although don’t get me wrong, I love those too) but it’s the little things that make my day: kids doing all the chores so I don’t have to, both of them are trying super hard not to fight, making a fuss of me all day and for me, the pinnacle of any birthday is the cards! The older the kids have gotten, the more they hate doing it, but every year they still make me handmade cards, and I have kept every single one of them! I love the time and effort they put into them and the words they choose to write. And, to be honest, Phil’s card is what I look forward to most every year! As you can probably tell, one of my top love languages is words of affirmation, and so I LOVE getting cards that are filled with encouraging and uplifting words. Phil’s card, like every other year, brought me to tears and I was overwhelmed with what he wrote!

Anyway, enough sappiness, back to celebrations! I LOVE them, in fact, I will find any excuse to celebrate. We have all the usual celebrations in our house, you know, ones like birthdays, Christmas, Easter, wedding anniversary and such like. But why stop there? Why not celebrate other milestones in life, whether they are big or small, why not celebrate them all?

Now I am not necessarily talking full-on celebrations with 4-course meals, cake and presents for every milestone but acknowledgment is a good thing!

We have a red star plate that we got when the kids were just little tots. It comes out on birthdays, special milestones or if I think someone just needs a boost! Even though they are teenagers now, both of them love getting the star plate (ok, so Phil and I love getting it too). When I pull it out of the cupboard the kids are both “Ohhh, who is getting the star plate tonight?” and there is a great discussion on who is getting it and why. It’s a simple thing, but something that can make you feel loved and appreciated!

So as you go about your week this week, what can you celebrate? What a milestone, big or small, can you acknowledge? Who can you celebrate, and maybe it’s for no other reason than you want them to feel loved!