I decided the day my first son was born that I would spend each of his birthdays with him. Then a couple years later, his brother was born, and a couple years later, the third of my amazing sons joined our family. And each year, I mark their 3 birthdays on my work calendar as Out-Of-Office. This year will mark the 12th year of this tradition, spending their birthdays with them, and I would not trade it for the world. We don’t have to do anything big. Mostly we drop the brothers off at school, then we have a morning activity typically, the Children’s Museum, Aquarium, etc., a lunch out at one of their favorite restaurants, and just spend time together. It won’t be long before my sons have more to say about how they spend their birthdays, but it warmed my heart just yesterday to hear my son whose birthday is only a couple weeks away say “yeah! I get to stay home with mom on that day” because his birthday falls on a school day. For now, we choose to spend their birthdays together. I hope when they are older and I am old, we can maintain this wonderful tradition. I’ll go wherever they are, though I may need more time off.

What special tradition do you have with your children?