Is it fair? - Advice needed re xmas decorating

[spirit wind]

Normally, come 1st December my family and i put up the xmas deccies. We spend ages doing it, have the xmas songs bellowing and generally have fun. But this year i have a dilemma and would really like some input.

My little boy turns 1 on December 12th (yay!!!) and i want to start a new tradition of putting up the xmas decorations on the 13th instead of the 1st. Now this year it wont matter too much, but in the many years to come i don't want my son to have a birthday party with xmas deccies all over the place.
So, is it fair on my other 2 kids (13 &10 ) to make them wait to put up the decorations?

Any advice would be helpful. Are there other families here that have the same problem?

Thanks
Spirit Wind
:smile:

[Pandoras]

I totally understand how you feel. My nephew was born on December 28th. He's 2 going on 3. Even now, my sister tries really hard to keep his birthday a separate occasion from Christmas and New Year's. She makes a point to never have his birthday parties in our Christmas-decorated homes, but instead chooses a park with a shelter or rec room. My nieces, 8 and 6, understand and go along very happily with our plans.

If you'll be holding birthday parties in your home for your son, then hold off on the Christmas decorations. But if not, I think you should stick to putting up your holiday decorations on the 1st. In any case, whatever you decide, I'm sure your other two kids will understand.

[Isis Diana]

I understand. I have friends of mine that have their birthdays in the last week of November/first week of December. I remember growing up that I would hear things like "oh, well that is their birthday AND xmas present combined." That always irritated me and made me feel bad for them. I do think that you should try to keep them separate. I really think that your other children will understand as well.

Blessings,
Isis

[RubyRose]

Ah, if I were you, I'd hold off putting up the decorations. Rhyce's birthday, is on the 29th December only four days after Christmas, and his parents still have Chrissy decorations up I believe around that time. Of course his parents go all out, on both Christmas and Birthday's so he doesn't seem to suffer for it. I think the only one who does suffer is me, cause I can't go shopping for Christmas and then his birthday, I have to get both out of the way at the same time.

[zehava]

my son's birthday is on the 16th... my daughter is older than him and adjusted to the decorations coming out later than 'usual' pretty well :) we don't do much until after his birthday for the same reasons you don't want to... we want him to have his *own* day.

-z

[SilverMaiden]

One of my close friend's was born on Dec. 24th.

I thought it was really cool that his inlaws gave him presents on his birthday, but they asked him to pick a day during the summer and that's when they celebrate his birthday without christmas.

You could compromise and make a tradition of putting christmas decorations in their bedrooms first and then after the youngest one's b-day decorate the rest of the house.

[xblue420x]

I'm with everyone else on this one..I think that they will understand if you wait. I'm sure the other two would hate it if say they had the same birthday.. Me and my best friend are 2 days apart so the two of us always do something together for those 3 days(16, 17, and 18) and its usually pretty cool..but over the years we've known so many other people who had bdays around the same time This past year a girl we work with had her party on the 16th(when her bday was like 2 weeks later) because it was a weekend, so the whole weekend was about her and it totally felt like she stole our thunder..we had a party the next night that nobody showed up to cuz they were so worn out from the night before..blah!

Anyways..lol I keep on ranting..My whole point for all of this..I think that all your kids will agree with the change in xmas dec. Just make sure you tell them why- that your not trying to take xmas away from them but that your trying not to take away the youngests birthday or something to that effect..and if all else fails just tell them that they have an extra 2 weeks to find even cooler decorations to put up :santasmil

Dont forget to put out the cookies_cookie_ :cutesanta And hope your boy has a great birthday:happybday

[Aedrais]

One of my best friends was born Dec. 23rd... she's always had to do the whole "it's your birthday and christmas present" thing, from her friends and her family. I try to buy her seperate things, but money's tight around than time of the year, so it's hard.

Honestly, we don't put our decorations up until mid-december anyway. I don't think waiting would be a big deal at all.

[MystAngel]

another idea would be to decorate for Christmas when you want to, but decorate your child's room separately with Birthday decorations, a day or two before his birthday. Oh, I just thought of something... He isn't old enough yet to know that you are trying to separate things out. I think you could easily still put up the decorations early, but find a way to make his day special... (yeah, decorating his room, maybe getting a new ornament for the tree for each birthday and letting him put it on....?)

[wakywitch]

My son turns 10 on Dec. 20.
I just put up a christmas tree. He doesn't seem to mind. Have been doing that for years. The only birthday things I put up are the table cloth, and paper goods that have whatever cartoon figure he is into.
I honestly don't see a problem with it.
Also I go to the dollar store and get inexpensive balloons, write happy birthday on them, and put them on the mailbox.
Our house is in the boonies, sometimes hard for people to find it. :smile:







My little boy turns 1 on December 12th (yay!!!) and i want to start a new tradition of putting up the xmas decorations on the 13th instead of the 1st. Now this year it wont matter too much, but in the many years to come i don't want my son to have a birthday party with xmas deccies all over the place.
So, is it fair on my other 2 kids (13 &10 ) to make them wait to put up the decorations?

Any advice would be helpful. Are there other families here that have the same problem?

Thanks
Spirit Wind
:smile:

[BrisaDelMar]

Well, My birthday is Dec 10. Really close to your boy's birthday. My mom always made it a big deal for me to have my birthday separate from Christmas. Then the weekend after my birthday, she would take me out, I would pick out the tree... and we would decorate it together. Personally, I think it is really important for children to know that their birthday is special. Now that I'm older with kids of my own, I don't really mind putting up the tree in the very beginning of December, but as a kid, it would of hurt my feelings.
If the decorations are a huge thing to you, you always could have his party somewhere else. Like a skating rink, or a McDonald's or something. That way, he could have a huge birthday party, and it would be totally separate from Christmas. Also you wouldn't have to clean up the mess! lol.