Lots of things have been swirling around in my head these days but getting them to this blog in a way that I can clearly communicate becomes another matter.

Since my son's birthday is coming up I have been thinking a lot about birthdays. How we celebrate them and other holidays is usually based on our upbringing. For instance, my father was pretty much an orphan growing up and at Christmas time he liked to have lots of little presents because as a child he didn't have any presents. We would wrap up everything and anything so he would have lots of presents. He was into fishing so we would buy individual lures and wrap them up and he would take his time opening each one and admiring them. It was fun to watch his amazement at each present. Our family always made a big deal of birthdays with family around to celebrate.

My husband celebrates birthdays in a whole different way. I don't ever recall him saying his family didn't celebrate birthdays and I have photos to show that they did indeed have family gatherings. When it comes to mine or his family he is pretty blase about it. When asked why I didn't get a birthday present it was because he couldn't find something "he" liked -- not what I might like but what he liked. Or I would recieve something that he wanted so he bought it for my birthday. Or if there was something particular I wanted I would show him in a catalog the exact item I wanted, he would do research on the internet or consumer reports and buy something he thought I would like better. When his mother was still living I was the one buying her birthday and Christmas presents -- I gave up on his brothers. At least I tried. When I realized that there was a pattern here I was determined that if we had children that birthdays would be special for them. And, he has pretty much gone along with it. He starts asking several months in advance of Alan's birthday what he wants or wants to be sure we have enough presents for Alan for Christmas. I guess that proves that some things anyway change when you have children!

We have a bake sale today for our Memory Walk. The Walk's in two weeks. I hope we have nice weather for it.