{On Birthdays and Anniversaries: July Edition}

July is a slower month for us in a lot of ways... warm days of soaking up the sun, long summer evenings gazing into the backyard fire, slower mornings and general laziness descends upon us. It's also slower when it comes to celebrations... We seem to frontload our year with birthdays, and then around May and June, things slow down. In July, we have one birthday and our anniversary to celebrate.  

Sometimes, simple is best.

Our birthday traditions are simple and easy. One way I like to celebrate birthdays is to let the birthday boy or girl choose what we have for dinner that night, followed by the dessert of their choice. Sometimes that's eating out, and other times it's something I make at home. How I decide which depends greatly on the rhythm of the week (work, events, etc.), and the budget. More often than not, my kids choose to have something that I make at home. And as much as we like to celebrate that dinner on the actual day, there have been times when we've had to postpone the special dinner and just do the dessert. We always make sure to have the dinner at some later point, though. 

Our anniversary traditions have changed a lot since the early days of our marriage. For part of our honeymoon, we visited an amusement park, and we've tried to go back each summer as often as we can. We haven't made it every year. Other years, we've been traveling, and had the opportunity to do some really cool things, like seeing Wicked in London's East End a few years ago. Last year, we simply got a local hotel room and had a mini-staycation. We wandered around downtown, ate a nice meal together, and just enjoyed being together. That's been the most important part. No matter what we do on our anniversary, we always take some time out to have some time that's just the two of us. I can only think of one year when our anniversary was a little different... and that was the year we celebrated in a hospital... I'd given birth to our daughter the day before.

Traditions can be modified when necessary.

This year, even with restrictions from a pandemic, our traditions won't change much. The birthday girl will get to choose her dinner and dessert on Sunday, and we will celebrate our anniversary on Monday. We might take the SUPs out and then BBQ steaks at home, or we might wander downtown and get takeout from somewhere fun. We haven't really decided. Our tradition is togetherness.

Traditions make us feel connected and special.

I have a friend who celebrates each of her children with birthday pancakes every year. I have another friend who hangs a giant sign outside of her house to let the neighborhood know that someone in her family is having a birthday. Yet another friend often has a staycation with her husband, and creates amazing charcuterie boards for the occasion! I love those traditions, and I love how each family chooses different ways to celebrate. I'd love to hear how you celebrate birthdays and anniversaries! Drop me a comment below!