New Birthday Tradition!
What the heck is up you guys?! If you follow me on social media, you know I just turned 20 (yes, TWENTY...aka the tagline of this blog actually makes sense now) years old last week. Like…I’m not a teenager anymore. It’s so weird!!! The past couple years, my family has adopted a new way of celebrating December 18 and I wanted to share it with you guys!
peep morgan's sweet lil paw on my head I'm crying
This new little “tradition” started in 2016 when I turned 19 and I fully expect it to last (in some variation) for the rest of my birthdays. If you’ve ever dated a boy from school, you know how impossible (and awkward) it can be to set up a time and place for your parents to meet his parents. During my first semester of college last year, P’s family quickly became my second family; we spent Sundays after church together and so many random meals and movie nights in between. I’m so grateful to be dating a dude with such a welcoming family and I really wanted my parents to meet the family I had been hanging out with all semester. The only important detail was the size of the family. P has 2 sisters and 4 brothers, which means that my family of 3 would be having 9 people over for dinner! We decided to schedule it the day before my birthday as an excuse to have cake (and to hopefully minimize the awkwardness). Overall, that first dinner was a success! Except for the fact that we were all wearing nice clothes and eating fancy food while talking all proper (gag)…
CUT TO THIS YEAR. For my 20th, I wanted the same people around but I wanted it to be more FUN (read: childish). After much persuasion, I decided that pajamas were mandatory and that breakfast would be served for dinner. Best. Decision. Ever. It was so much fun (and delicious) and we were able to end the night with a Christmas movie in pajamas. Not only did I enjoy this approach way more, I think it’s safe to say that everyone else did, too. And do y’all realize how difficult it is to think of one single idea that a 10 year-old will enjoy that won’t seem lame to a 60 year-old?? It’s a little tough, lemme tell you that. I think I may have found a new way to preserve this tradition and I can’t wait to see what we do next year! And if you are ever wondering how you can make a ‘formal’ dinner more fun, cut the formal and add pajamas and breakfast—you won’t regret it :-)
DETAILS: So, obviously pajamas are a big detail. After you establish the attire, start planning the food! I started out with a "Breakfast Party" board on Pinterest but quickly realized I was not pinning the most realistic recipes for such a big group with varying tastes. We ended up going with an assortment of pancakes, croissants, muffins, fresh fruit, sausage balls, breakfast casserole, bagels, bacon and hot cocoa (aka all of the best breakfast foods). For decorations, my sweet mama has always worked so hard to stray away from Christmas decor so my birthday can be about my birthday, but this year we decided to use holiday plates to add a touch of festivity! That being said, we still had to hang a ginormous "Happy Birthday" sign and a birthday tree that's been going strong for as long as I can remember ;-) Overall, I think it's safe to say that everyone had fun in their jammies!!! Also, CHECK MY MAMA'S PJs!
SEE YA,
kb
her shirt is covered in pics of me and morgan...i died
