Christmas Birthdays Yield Mixed Blessings

A Child is Born: Deck the Halls With Birthday Cake

Stocking+stuffers%3A+Senior+Justice+Lyons+and+freshman+MarCal+Fleeton+were+born+on+Christmas+Day%2C+so+they+are+used+to+the+idea+of+Dont+open+til+Christmas.

Eiress Greenwood

Stocking stuffers: Senior Justice Lyons and freshman MarCal Fleeton were born on Christmas Day, so they are used to the idea of “Don’t open ’til Christmas.”

Having a Christmas birthday has its ups and downs. Just ask senior Justice Lyons or freshman MarCal Fleeton.
Lyons says having his birthday on Christmas is a mixed blessing. For the past 17 years he has shared his birthday with baby Jesus, and says he feels like “the special one” for having a December 25th birthday.
Even though “Everything is closed so there’s nothing to do on Christmas Day,” Lyons says he knows he can always count on having the day off from school and having family available to celebrate with him because it is a holiday.
Justice says he wakes up on Christmas morning with the thought of “It’s Christmas” instead of “It’s my birthday” because his birthday is usually overshadowed by the holiday fuss.
Typically, he says he attends church on Christmas and goes to a relative’s house to have food with his family members. There is usually no birthday cake nor “Happy Birthday” song sung to him as kids traditionally do. He makes do with Christmas cookies and pie.
But there are presents, and that part he loves.
Fleeton, on the other hand, has a Hebrew father and a Christian mother. He says he spends part of his Christmas at his mother’s house receiving traditional presents for both his birthday and Christmas. He spends his day relaxing with his family and eating a personal birthday cake made for him.
Later in the day, he goes to his Hebrew father’s house. At Fleeton’s father’s house, his dad indulges him with the true importance of the birth of Jesus and reminds him of how important he is to share a birthday with the baby Jesus.
“It makes me feel special that I share a birthday with Jesus,” said Fleeton.Lyons and Fleeton share a December 25th birthday with several celebrities, including Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels, the late jazz artist Cab Calloway, and entertainer Jimmy Buffett. Student teacher Eric Lorber says he can relate to the two Southfield High students who have Christmas birthdays because his birthday is on Christmas Day, too.

Lorber jokes that both he and Jesus have facial hair and nice attitudes. When it comes to Christmas and his birthday being on the same day, Lorber does in fact receive separate gifts. “For Christmas, my mommy wraps my presents in wrapping paper typically with Christmas decor and sets them under the tree so I can open them on Christmas morning; for my birthday, my gift is decorated with some sort of sports- themed wrapping paper, and I open them after dinner to add a separation effect to my birthday and Christmas.,” Lorber says.

Like it or not, for Christmas babies, their birthdays will forever be on December 25th. And that’s a wrap.