2009 Birthday Week - The Husband

For my readers who don't know, my husband's birthday is in December. Now this year he plans to curl up into a fetal position, suck his thumb, and randomly scream words like "Why God?!! Why?!! We had a deal!! Let the others grow old! Not me!!"

Yes he has decided that on the 8th he will merely turn 29 and 365 days old. Yep and when he reaches 40 he will actually be turning 30. Yes Yes lunacy is one of the reasons I married him, keeps my days interesting.

Anyway... If you were not a follower last year or the year before you may not be familiar with a tradition of ours: Birthday Week. We feel that since our mothers carried us for 9 months enjoying the fun wonders of pregnancy (you can tell I don't have kids) we should get more than one day to celebrate. So we created Birthday Week. Yep 7 days of fun. Now in a relationship this can be tricky. You see the rules are as follows:

1. Birthday-ee can decide what day the week begins so long as somewhere in the seven days his/her actual birthday occurs.

2. During the 7 days, the Birthday-ee does not have to partake in any household chores. NONE.

3. During the 7 days, the Birthday-ee may choose any meal they would like to have. ANY Meal. The Non-Birthday-ee must then make, pick up or go with the Birthday-ee in order to insure they get what they want.

4. During the 7 days, gifts will be given each day. These gifts can range from the unexpected simplicity of doing something for the Birthday-ee that normally would not be done or it can be extravagant.

5. During the 7 days, the Birthday-ee has full control of the television channel selection.

6. During the 7 days, the Birthday-ee can do whatever they want. i.e. sit around, nap, eat, shop, whatever. (the only stipulation here of course is any activity that could damage the marriage - course if you damage the marriage you lose birthday week anyway, sooooo.....yeah)

7. During the 7 days, the Non-Birthday-ee cannot complain about having to do any of the chores, activities without help.

So that is what we do. You must remember that when it is your birthday all of this applies to you, so the last rule is very important. Because if you do complain or make the birthday week difficult the previous Birthday-ee has the right to reciprocate. *yikes*

December is a crazy month for Birthday week, but it also makes it fun. I get to make cookies for Christmas tins & for Marcus. I cook because I love too and he chooses his favorite things which always make me smile. They are typically recipes that my mother taught me and the fact that they are some of his favorites is a compliment to heritage not just product quality.

With the big 30 this year, I am trying to pull out all the stops for each day. We have had an interesting year so I will have to get creative on a few things, but overall starting on Friday 12-4-09 we begin this year's Birthday Week.

So all of this was explained, not just because I like to share with all of you, but because I need a little help. #4 talks of the daily gifts. I need some new creative gift ideas. Like, in the past I have done the love coupons (ladies give these an expiration date or fine print - trust me on this), bought some DVDs and I have done things like wash/clean his car, etc. I need some new ideas or inspiration; plus it is always fun to hear about the kind things we do for those we love! Okay, so let me know of some things your loved ones have done for you or maybe something you plan to do this holiday season.