A dollar and a smack on the bottom for each year

Today I'm celebrating my birthday. I'm not particularly fond of birthdays -- and it's just not because birthdays are a reminder of my aging. However, I like to make the best of it. I rarely work on my birthday. I generally take a vacation day and plan some fun things for the day. A great day for me includes some fried shrimp and some chocolate. It usually involves some shopping too. Add a movie, and it's a best day. Start the day off at the salon and it's perfect.

Birthdays at our house were days to celebrate, but with some uneasiness. Sure, there was the cake, with candles, and friends and family. After church on the closest Sunday, we'd also get to go to town and eat out -- a special treat. Of course, I always picked the shrimp. So what in the world might make someone a little uneasy on their birthday? Was it the embarassment of opening the annual gift of "granny panties" from your Grandma in front of your friends? My family is a little Scottish -- celebrating by giving a dollar (rather than a pound note), along with a smack on the bottom for each year. I remember that last smack -- it was in Mr Sawyer's Music Theory class by Mad Rad on my 18th birthday. However, it gets worse -- the annual tradition of my Grandpa was to snatch you up and then stick your head under his house! I really hated that -- dreading that moment! After all, I had seen all kinds of critters under that house over the years.

I'm not a big fan of surprises either. Now, I like a surprise phone call from an old friend. However, I'm not a fan of being ambushed! Have you ever missed your own birthday party? I have. Once my friends decided to celebrate my birthday by hosting a surprise dinner. However, it was planned after our choir rehearsal and at the place where we typically ate each week. It was not on my specific birth date. I had to work late and did not attend the rehearsal. Rather than stopping by the restaraunt to join the gang for dinner I just drove home. Everyone assumed that I would be there. Point of advice -- if you plan on throwing a party for someone, then assign someone to make sure they're going to attend. It was really funny looking at pictures of the empty chair with the balloon tied to its back and the nice cake with lit candles and no one to blow them out. An especially memorable birthday!

I browsed around to read about birthday traditions -- curious where Grandpa might have gotten his tradition. Although I did not see its origin, I found other traditions that I also would like to avoid. If I lived in Canada, I would have my nose greased with butter or margarine. In China, I'd be eating noodles for lunch. In Denmark, there would be a flag flying outside my window. In Italy and Hungary, people would be pulling at my ears (although that sounds much better than a smack on the bottom). In Latvia, as you sit in your chair, your friends lift it one time for each year -- naw, that's not going to happen! In Puerto Rico, family and friends would be tapping me on the arm -- that can be annoying. However, in Japan, I'd be wearing new clothes -- finally, a tradition that I would enjoy!