The Gauntlet

When I worked at the Courthouse in Rockville my friend Bryan referred to the months between December and March as "The Gauntlet." Between Christmas, a birthday, Valentine's Day and an anniversary, Bryan had to come up with new and interesting gifts and planned days out with his girlfriend that topped what he did the year before. Of course he complained about the blood letting of money from his wallet during the gauntlet.

When Bryan told me about his gauntlet I laughed in his face. Because, here at The Way of the Welsh, the entire year is a gauntlet.


We kick the year off in January with Jeff's birthday which is exactly 30 days after Christmas. This is absolutely no fair to me. I have so little time to recuperate from the craziness that is a Welshie Christmas before I have to go back out into the shopping world and buy birthday presents for some one who already has everything. I staunchly refuse to investigate, comparison shop and buy technology for a technology geek.


We move onto February and of course, Valentine's Day. I was shocked and amazed at my first Welshie Valentine's Day dinner. I had never celebrated or given gifts for Valentine's Day before I met Jeff. But they have a huge dinner, exchange cards and gifts.

Our friends the Mullens have three birthdays in February; all on February 11. It's so convenient to get three birthdays in one party.


I'm not really a fan of March; there are too many days and the weather is usually crap and I'm ready for winter to be over. Although, I do enjoy St. Patrick's Day; I enjoy celebrating how great it is to be Irish. March, however, is the first of several month long birthday parties. March 15 ("beware the ides of March") is Great Grandma Hall's birthday, the next day is Paul's birthday and the 17th -- St. Patrick's Day itself -- is my niece Emmy's birthday. These three birthdays are separated by twenty and sixty years respectively. This coming year Grandma will turn 87, Paul turns 67 and Emmy turns 7.

We get a bit of a reprieve in April with only two birthdays. My nephew Daniel has his birthday on the 1st -- yup, April Fool's Day. My birthday is on the 5th and if I had my way there would be no acknowledgment of the day at all.

May is not so bad -- we get the two birthday parties knocked out in one day. My niece Gracie and my best friend's daughter Lexi were both born on May 10. And usually both birthday parties are on the same day. We try our best to gently suggest party times so that we can attend both.

The month of June is mainly occupied by Jack. For both of Jack's birthday parties we've rented a park pavillion in Poolesville and had a picnic outside. This year was a washout; we had torential downpours of rain. Our friend Mike Timma's birthday is also in June.

July has several birthdays including America's birthday. My Dad kicks off the month on the 3rd and then cousins Shelley, RaNae, Dylan and Andrew.

After July, there is no rest for the weary. Jeff's mom is one of six daughters and four of the six girls have birthdays in August. Aunts Peggy and Viriginia share their dates and are only one year apart. Jeff's cousin Michael is on the 2nd, Peggy and Virginia are on the 3rd, Emma is on the 5thand Nellie is on the 22nd. We have parties and dinners for each person individually and one party for all of the aunts together.

September is the queen bee for birthdays. My sister Jen's birthday is on the 3rd, my brother in law Danny is on the 8th, my Mom is on the 12th, my niece Brenna is on the 16th, Patrizia is on the 19th (although I always forget to call PiPi on her birthday, I always remember to think about her) and my sister in law Julie's is on the 25th. Of course, individual and sometimes multiple celebrations for each birthday.

October has my favorite birhtday -- our friend Allie's birthday is on the 31st, Halloween. Allie has really cool birthday parties! Steven, Steve and Tyler have their birthdays within days of each other, the 9th, 11th and 12th respecivlely. Steven and Tyler are at least eight years older than Jack but they are Jack's closest friends; they love each other. We're really excited this year that we're invited to Steven and Tyler's costume bowling birthday party.

November gives us a bit of a rest before the absolute craziness that is December and the holidays. Our niece Claire turns two on the 15th and I'm over the moon excited about what we've planned for her gift. I'm also really exiceted about Nick's first birthday.

Our good friends Diane and Rick have their birthdays in December. Fortunately, Diane and Rick are sane and we are able combine Christmas and their birthdays into one party and just being together is the best gift we can give each other.