Celebrating Birthdays for a whole month vs Celebrating Christmas Early

Christmas season is in full swing, well has been since the end of October. And it irritates me.

Not the holiday itself, mind you. It is the fact that people forego the entire month of November holidays (Election Day, Veteran's Day, and finally Thanksgiving) and began celebrating Christmas. Many folks have completely lost sight of the reason and meaning for the holiday.

Now many are aware of my month long birthday celebrations. I was challenged as saying that what I do is no different than folks celebrating Christmas early and being called a narcissist. Well for those folks that don't get it, let me break it down for you all.

1. I began celebrating my birthday the first of July (no sooner) and do not overlook any holidays in the process, especially not the 4th of July, Independence Day.

2. I celebrate, but I don't make a huge spectacle of my birthday.  I usually do the majority of my postings and stuff on that day (7/11) or a couple of days following. Most of my celebrating involves a private party or two, taking advantage of birthday freebies and maybe a road trip. My celebrating is very low-key. Plus I usually only take a couple of vacation days for my birthday, and have often worked on that day.

3. I haven't forgotten the significance or importance of being alive and seeing another year. That is important, and we should be thankful for everyday.  People celebrate Christmas early for all the wrong reasons: often to make them think of happier times and even positive things such as giving and family.  However, Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. 
4. Christmas is so commercial and corporate nowadays. Traffic is all over even the slowest roads, shopping centers and malls are packed. Many go broke just over Christmas and trying to impress others. None of that takes place during my birthday.  I'm taking advantage of free and discounted items, many of which take the entire month. Plus,  I'm just having extra, but not more expensive or annoying fun.

5. Jesus deserves more than one month,
or even a couple of months. He should be honored year round. However, it shouldn't be at the expense of a holiday that has gotten out of control. I won't let my own birthday get like that.

Here's the simple principle; celebrate each holiday as they come, and don't overdo any one of them, including your own birthday.  Remember what is important to others and yourself, and make them all good seasons.

Birthday Freebies 2.0

Birthdays are intended to be a special celebration, regardless of the age. Those who know me well are aware how serious I take mine.

That being said, I wrote a Facebook note four years ago about the various restaurants I found that offer freebies or discounts on or around your birthdate. When the same friends that introduced me to those found two more websites with various deals, a part 2 was in order.  These two sites are MrFreeStuff and FatWallet.

These two sites send me frequent alerts with coupons, discount and freebies from several businesses, restaurants included. Also, they have a listing of many restaurants with birthday e-clubs. I will allow you, the reader, to research most of these on your own as the list was quite long. However, the new ones I found included Copper River Grill, MarbleSlab Creamery, Steak 'N' Shake, Del Taco, IHOP, and FuddRuckers. Tony Romas still remains the best in my opinion and also in the thoughts of several others. Now I will see if any of these other restaurants can best them when my birthday arrives in July.

The reason I write about finances and discounts often is because it's good to save and put back money. It does not make good sense to pay full price  for the same quality of service you can receive free or discounted. No one should turn their noses up at this.

My goal is to eat all 31 days of July for free. I get closer every year and maybe 2013 will be that magic year.