The bad part about having your birthday near Christmas is that they get blended together, lessening the specialality and significance of both days. I remember all too well when my gramma was guilty of this. The one I remember best was when I turned 18. She came over for our Christmas dinner and with her my gift. She said to me, "Well wart (her nickname for me), Merry Christmas and happy birthday." I of course thanked her ahead of time expecting to find her whole life savings in the card she handed me. When I opened it, all I saw was a 10 dollar bill. I was so disappointed. I mean, had i been 7 years old and received 10 dollars, I would have been so happy because when you're 7, 10 dollars is a lot of money. The problem was that I was 18. 10 dollars wouldn't even fill up my tank with gas. 10 dollars (at that time) woul dhave only bought me ½ a carton of smokes. I suppose I could have taken some chick out to eat but 10 dollars gave me a budget suitable for McDonald's or Taco Bell. Being the ladie's man I was back in those days, the chances of me being able to score that evening would only work if she had some prior infatuation that was so desparate that it wouldn't matter what I put in her stomache. So, I got a gift that wouldn't fill my car, wouldn't get me a full carton of smokes and definately wouldn't get me laid. Gramma must have been living in an alcoholic haze which she never knew was 40 years later than where her mind was. The worst part of the whole thing was that it was a 10 dollar bill. It wasn't two 5 dollar bills (each bill representing each "special" day). So she not only blended 2 special events together, she short changed me so she could drink her shitty beer and eat her guacamole while she watched M*A*S*H* and relived the days during the Korean War (where my grampa served in the airforce).
I'm not mad at her anymore although I know it sounds that I am. She died about 10 years ago, so justice was finally served.
She might have lived longer had she given her only grandchild, on his 18th birthday, something of a significant nature, like a candy cane and a box of rubbers (which falls under 10 dollars but has meaning of 'the candy cane is for the girl, the rubbers are for her gratitude
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So keep in mind for those of you who have stenbokar in your families to try to make their birthday something special. Don't just hand them a bag of shit and expect them to be happy about it.
. I hope we all can learn more and be more from participation on Surfsverige. Thanks Petter for your efforts and I hope we can all make it a forum both you and us others are proud of!
