birthdays – Facts, Fictions & Fantasies

Share Your World — 05/18/ 2026

May 18, 2026May 18, 2026Fandango1 Comment

Di, at Pensitivity101, is once again our host for Share Your World. Here are her questions for this week.

1. Do you celebrate anniversaries for family members?

My wife and I do celebrate our anniversaries by going out to a nice restaurant for dinner, but we no longer buy gifts for each other. For other people’s anniversaries, we will sometimes buy them gifts, or call them on the phone, or send them an anniversary card, or text them, depending upon how close we are — both physically and relationship wise — with them.

Birthdays are generally bigger celebrations. Our grandkids (ages 6 and 4) always have parties for their friends and family and we buy them cards (often with music and pop-ups) and presents. For our adult children and their spouses, we will give them gifts or money and celebrate by going with them to dinner or special places. For my wife and me, we no longer get each other gifts, But we usually have birthday gatherings at our house, like the backyard cookout we had for my birthday last month.

2. Do you prefer to receive a card for your special day or a social media message?

I have no particular preference. I think we tend to get more text messages and phone calls than actual cards anymore.

3. Do you think the cost of greetings cards are value for money?

Greetings cards have gotten pretty expensive lately, but we do spring for elaborabe cards with music and pop-ups for our grandkids just to see the delight in their eyes when they open them up.

4. Do you look forward to mail deliveries on a day to day basis, not just a celebration?

Not really. Probably 90 to 95% of the “snail mail” I receive is junk mail or bills.

Share Your World — 05/15/2023

May 15, 2023May 15, 2023Fandango20 Comments

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her SYW questions for this week.

1. Children aside, do you celebrate your birthday/anniversary or is it just a normal day for you?

I’d say somewhere in between. We try to acknowledge that birthdays and anniversaries are not just normal days by doing something special that we know the other person would enjoy. But we don’t go overboard. My answer is “normal-plus.”

2. Do/did you always give your child a birthday party when they were young?

Yes, of course. But compared to what some parents are doing these days, the parties we gave for our kids were relatively modest.

3. If your child was born on Christmas Day (or a few days either side of the 25th), did they have a ‘half birthday’ in June, two presents/celebrations, or something else?

Not applicable to my family. Our kids were born in July and March. But our son-in-law was born on December 31. I don’t know what his parents did.

4. Would you prefer to give your child a party, or take them and a few friends on a special outing?

When our kids were still little kids, we most often did the party thing, but as they got older, we tended to do more of the special outing thing.

Gratitude

I’m grateful that we are grandparents now and that most of what you asked about herein is behind us. Now that our children have their own kids, these are their matters to handle and my wife and I are just along for the ride.

Share Your World — 12/19/2022

December 19, 2022December 19, 2022Fandango5 Comments

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her questions for this week.

1. How organised are you in either your working or private life?

More organized than I used to be, not as organized as I ought to be.

2. Do you remember family birthdays or anniversaries and send cards?

I have family members’ birthdays and anniversaries set as reminders on my iPhone. After I get those reminders, depending upon which relative it is, I will buy a present, send a card, or call them on the phone.

3. If you see something in a shop that is an extravagance but you can afford it, do you buy it?

Nope, there’s nothing I need or want that I would consider an extravagance. Unless you consider a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream an extravagance. I don’t. I consider it to be a necessity.

4. Are you looking forward to the New Year?

I look forward to the new year every year. I was disappointed by 2020, 2021, and 2022. Maybe 2023 won’t continue that disappointing streak. I’m not holding my breath, though.

Gratitude: What simple thing warms your heart?

My grandchildren.

Throwback Thursday — Birthday Blasts

May 27, 2022May 27, 2022FandangoLeave a comment

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Lauren chose the topic of “Birthday Blasts.”

Lauren would like us to think back to the birthdays we remember. Here are her questions.

1) What’s your earliest birthday memory?

Sadly, I don’t remember virtually any of my birthdays when I was a kid.

2) What was your favorite birthday and why?

See my answer above.

3) What’s the best birthday present you have ever received?

For my 60th birthday my wife got us GoldLeaf tickets on the Rocky Mountaineer, a beautifully scenic train excursion from Vancouver to Banff. It was spectacular.

4) Did you ever get money as a birthday gift?

I’m sure I did.

5) What did you like to do on your birthday as a kid? What do you like to do now?

I suppose it was having friends over, playing games, eating cake and ice cream, and opening presents. That’s what I like to do now, too.

6) Did you have birthday parties with friends or family parties?

Yes, both.

7) Did you get to pick the food for your birthday? Did you prefer to eat a home cooked meal or to eat out at a restaurant on your birthday?

I think — and I emphasize think because I don’t have clear recollections — that my parties probably had take out food like pizzas or other fast foods.

8) Did your family have any fun birthday traditions? Did you continue those traditions with your own kids?

I don’t recall any specific traditions in my youth, but my wife and I always made big deals with our kids birthdays and their parties. And I have the video tapes to prove it.

9) Did you ever get to take the day off school on your birthday? As an adult did/do you take the day off?

Not that I recall.

10) Have you ever had a surprise birthday party? Was it a real surprise, or did you know it was coming?

Yes, for my 30th birthday, some of the people I worked with threw me a surprise party and, yes, I was very surprised. And the most notable birthday present of the night was a gag gift…an inflatable sex doll. I was still single at the time.

Bonus Question:
If you had a million dollars to spend only on your next birthday, what would you do?

I’d buy myself a gift. One million dollars deposited into an account that, upon my death, would be bequeathed to my wife, if she survives me, and to my children and grandchildren.

Truthful Tuesday — Happy Birthday

March 16, 2021March 16, 2021FandangoLeave a comment

Full disclosure: today is not my birthday. However, Frank, aka PCGuy, has published another one of his Truthful Tuesday posts. This week Frank wants to know…

As you have gotten older, do you still celebrate your birthday, or has it become just another day to you?

I try not to make a big deal about my birthdays. I don’t want friends and family to make a fuss just because it’s the anniversary of something I had no control over or influence upon, nor did I accomplish anything special to reach that milestone. I’d rather everyone treat it as just another day.

But that applies to everyone else. At my age, I am internally thrilled to still be alive and to have survived yet another year. I don’t know how many more birthdays I’ll be around to celebrate, so as each one arrives, I have a huge celebration, even if it’s only inside of my own head.