Over six weeks, between 18th August and 30th September, there are seven family birthdays, including mine, and four wedding anniversaries, also including mine. My school chum Lynn’s birthday is this month too, as well as several other friends, though I only give a present to Lynn. It’s all quite a lot to get organised, present-wise. However, this year I’m sorted. Lynn’s present was posted today, for Monday and the rest of them are bought and ready to be wrapped. And I’ve got cards and paper and everything.
I feel so sensible and mature and so on. I suppose that I should be by now, though.
My mother’s birthday was 11th November and birthdays mattered very much to her. She’d never been cosseted much as a child, so really loved a fuss being made of her in later life. I always used to put a lot of effort into her birthday presents, though that didn’t always pay off. We found some of our gifts still in their wrapping, after she died, though we really thought they were things she’d like. I suspect, in retrospect, that visits to the theatre and concerts would have been better. Anyway, I was never able to think about the December thingy until her birthday was over. And I still can’t, not really. I’m not an early shopper, mostly because, if I’ve bought a present, I want to give it, not hang on to it for a couple of months. But at least I’ve got a month or two before I need to worry any more about what to buy anyone because, after the celebration it’s too early to mention yet, the next family birthday will be 20th March and that’s six whole months away.
My niece’s birthday is 1st November and I will not countenance ANY mention of the December thingy prior to that date.
Exactly!