Happy Birthday, Dad!

In all of the Christmas hubbub, it's easy to get so caught up in the spirit of the season that I forget an important day...today is my dad's birthday! Yup. He's a Christmas Eve baby.

For as long as I can remember, to celebrate Dad's birthday we've had a party on Christmas eve night. It's always the same people...three families come over...between the four of us families, we have about 22 people total. And it happens every year, without fail. There were a few years where our family observed Christmas in different cities (in different states!) on different days. But you can always count Dad's Birthday Party on Christmas Eve at the Crews house in Greenville, SC.

For the last 20 years at least (that's as many years as I can remember), all of the kids have gotten together and hung out for the night. I always figured there would come a year when someone wouldn't be able to make it to the party...but each year, everyone always made it back in time. Then recently a couple of us got married and the group grew. The picture above is from last year's party.

So this year, for the first time, one of the original six of us kids will not be there. And the worst part is: it's me! It's very sad to know that everyone will be singing "Happy Birthday" and swapping gifts and catching up and that I'll miss it all.

All a part of growing up, I suppose.