Typically, birthdays are celebrated on the day we were born. In our family, we celebrate birthdays a little differently. For example, tomorrow is the anniversary of my birth (commonly referred to as a birthday) but I have no memory of that day and as such, it holds no particular reason for me to celebrate. However, it was an extremely important day for the lady who gave me life because it changed her life immensely from that day forward. So on August 8 each year, I send my mother flowers and wish her happy birthday.

I began this "tradition" the first year I was married and living in California, far away from my Mother for the very first time. Since then, I myself have given birth four times and each year, each of them wishes me happy birthday on the anniversary of their births.

Which means I get 4 birthdays a year instead of only one! Now if I could just get this practice passed down to my 12 grandchildren, I could spend all year celebrating my "birthdays"!

Lera, Proprietress, The Novel Shoppe

How do you celebrate your birthday?