Often, people consider having a holiday birthday as drawing the short stick in birthday selection. They may assume it unfortunate for a birthday to be overshadowed by such a hallmarked holiday.
Troupes like this are exhibited in Season 1, Episode 14 of “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo,” where Daphne finds her friends forgetting her birthday during their pursuit of a Christmas dinosaur.
Speaking from experience, with my birthday falling just 37 minutes after Christmas, I no longer consider this overlap as horrible as Daphne does. However, some of my birthday twins don’t share this opinion.
Some students wish their birthdays were a different day entirely.
“I have thought about, so many times, celebrating my half birthday [instead],” said senior Ally Morris.
She described the annoyances of having a birthday fall into the Christmas season. “If you want something in the middle of the year, you have to wait till Christmas to ask for it,” Morris said.
Even though she loves winter, the weather can be annoying when trying to celebrate.
“You can’t do anything that needs to be warm for your birthday,” Morris said. “I always wanted to go to the river for my birthday or like, go do something outside, but it’s too cold.”
Junior Lela Broughton agreed with this sentiment. If she could change the date she was born on, she said she would want it “to be in summer, so it’s warm out.”
To counter the weather, there are many more upsides to Christmas birthdays, such as the slim chance of Humboldt snow, a break from school, and Xmas decorations.
Senior Ell Franklin offered some special insight on her birthday. Having a birthday earlier in the Christmas season, the two days are interconnected in her mental calendar. Her birthday is a surprise, she’s often caught off guard by it coming around each year.
“I’m just not expecting it,” Franklin said. “And I don’t expect Christmas until my birthday.”
Franklin explained why she thinks December birthdays are better, citing break and the winter aesthetic as examples. She noted that people with these birthdays may have a superiority complex, but this seems deserved to her.
“We kinda are cooler than everyone else, maybe, for having birthdays in December.” Franklin proceeded to list some of the benefits of this time of year. “We get two weeks off of school, […] it’s just like a pretty month, and the days are shorter.” The last part of which she said “kind of sucks, but it’s also a vibe.”
Regarding gifts, most people report that their families are very fair.
“It’s like how my sisters are,” Morris said. “We all get pretty equivalent gifts for birthdays and Christmas.”
Extended family can be a little different, however. Although Morris doesn’t mind, she finds it a little funny to hear the routine “Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday,” while her sisters still receive separate gifts for both.
Franklin reported her family’s trickery regarding gifts. “I’ll be like, ‘Wait can I have this for my birthday?’ And then I don’t get it.” Never wanting to be selfish, Franklin moves on, feeling just a little disappointed, but a surprise lies around the corner… “And then I get it for Christmas! […] A little frickin’ tease…”
Celebrations vary for winter birthdays, and one of the main disappointments for these students regarding birthday dates is a lack of social interaction with friends.
“The amount of times I’ve had to celebrate my birthday like three weeks late is actually insane,” Morris said.
Franklin concurs with this downside.“You want to celebrate […] with your friends, but a bunch of people are out with their family and it’s just like, god dammit […], presents aren’t really important compared to hanging out with your friends.”
Junior Siena Kraus, however, often finds time to see friends over break.
“A lot of my friends have their birthdays, like, in the same time period. So like, we usually just try to celebrate together,” Kraus said.
Broughton also finds little trouble in this aspect, and said that her close friends “usually stay in town around [her] birthday time.”
A quick dissection of student opinions on their Christmas birthdays reveals that holidays may overshadow birthdays in the public eye. However, while it may be hard to feel loved when classmates or extended family ignore your birthday in the wake of Christmas, celebration from strangers doesn’t matter. Love from close friends and family will always make a birthday special.
While this is the case, the Christmas season can also be an isolating time from those you truly want to celebrate with. It seems like your birthday almost isn’t as memorable when people look forward to celebrating Christmas instead of you. As Franklin said, “It’s like damn, stop celebrating Christmas and celebrate me.”
