AUTHOR: Anonymous TITLE: DATE: 5:31:00 PM ----- BODY:

Today is my baby boy's 13th birthday! Yes folks, 13 years ago tonight I had my firstborn child delivered (after 32 hours of labor with a cesarean on top of it!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRECIOUS GABRIEL! WARNING: Today's post will contain some ranting on my part. Being a December birthday girl, I promised myself I would never subject my children to the December Birthday Syndrome (hi, here's your birthday AND Christmas present in one...Uh, gee thanks...). Unfortunately, I suffered a miscarriage at 20 weeks prior to becoming pregnant with my dear son; so the timing got thrown off and I ended up having a sweet baby boy at Christmas time. (I did get it right with my daughter, however. She was born in the Spring.) Well, since I wasn't going to give back my baby, I then determined not to have him regret having a December birthday. One's thirteenth birthday is pretty momentous in my book, so we planned a fun celebration. We would invite 10 boys and go see The Lord of the Rings (LOTR): The Return of the King at a Sunday matinee then return to the house for pizza, cake, games, and presents. Then the boys were going to hook up their game systems and have a video game marathon into the night. Who raised these boys? Or more specifically, who raised the boy's parents? We hand made our LOTR birthday invites which Gabriel passed out at school and church. We clearly noted to RSVP by Thursday. By Friday, we still had no response, but husband felt we should purchase the tickets as they were selling out fast. I then got on the phone and was able to track down 6 of the 10 kids, 2 couldn't make it, but 4 boys said they would be there. Out of the 12 tickets purchased, we were able to give 3 away to (adult) friends at church and were fortunately able to scalp the remaining three at the theater (1 boy even didn't show up we're still waiting for a phone call). So at least we broke even with the tickets. LOTR was wonderful by the way. We returned home for pizza and presents. NOT ONE BOY BROUGHT A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. However, one kid brought a card - A CHRISTMAS CARD - where he wrote "happy birthday." Isn't it usually understood that if a child is invited to a birthday party (actually taken care of during the afternoon and evening on the Sunday before Christmas so the parents can get in some last minute shopping), treated to a blockbuster movie, fed, then hooked up to video gaming machines for a night of sensory overload, wouldn't you expect a gift in return? I am the type of person to try and see the other side of the story and make excuses for oversights in etiquette (oh, it's such a busy time of year, money is in short supply because I just had to buy that fruitcake for Aunt Ethel). But not this time baabee! I'm angry! It's not that difficult to pick up the phone and say that you can/can't make it. How hard would it be to add another present to your shopping basket? My son handled the whole situation pretty well and I'm sure the $90+ I spent in video games and accessories took the sting out of the boy's (or more accurately, the boy's parents) thoughtlessness.

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