That Day that you're Born on and Therefore you Celebrate on that Day every Year

   Birthdays. I am talking about this now because there are so many people I know that have birthdays this month and the beginning of next month. The whole point of a birthday is to celebrate the day that someone was born. Why? I'll never know. So many people are born every day and people die too. Yet we still celebrate the day of someone's birth every single year. We buy them gifts and throw them parties. Why? It's so pointless. You just end up spending tonnes of money on presents for people every time someone you're close to has their birthday. I lose about 60% of the money I earn each year on buying presents for other people. When I could be spending that money on more important things (like books) instead. I understand that it's nice to have a bit of a yay when people are born and I guess it's nice to give people gifts, but it just costs so much money, money that I don't have.

"Congratulations on being born exactly *insert age* many years ago, without dying yet. I am so very happy for you, here, have a gift. Well done on being born. Go you!"

   I do celebrate peoples birthdays though. I buy them presents and do all the things I am expected to do on these occasions. However, I am incredibly bad at buying presents. I don't have much money so I can never buy them anything that they really want or anything that is actually good enough for them. I also never know what to buy people. For example, it's my friend Paige's birthday on the 1st of May and I have begun to think about what to get her. "Cats, England and The Script." That is my list of ideas. It's very short and doesn't actually give me an idea of what to get her. She's one of my bestest friends ever, my zero best friend, and she made me this wonderful collage of pictures of me and all my friends for my birthday and I know that nothing I get her will be as amazing or meaningful.

   I also have the problem that most of the time I leave buying presents till the last minute. Which is all my own fault and I know that I shouldn't but I do. It's not that I don't start looking for a present till the last minute, it's just that nothing I see is ever good enough. It's one of my best friends birthday next Monday, Elli's birthday, and I haven't got her present yet because nothing I see is good enough for her. I'm trying to find the PERFECT present for her, but nothing is perfect enough. Not as perfect as her. I don't want to just give her any old present, I hate giving people meaningless presents but I'm just so bad at finding good presents for people.

   Then there are people who "outdo" other people when it comes to presents. This may be because one person has more money than the other and therefore they can afford better presents. Or because they're just naturally really good at knowing what people will want. Or they just get lucky and find the perfect present. Then the other person feels really bad because their present isn't as good and I hate that. That's why sometimes I hate the idea of presents because some people just end up feeling really bad about the quality of the presents that they get people. And it shouldn't be so much about presents, it should be about appreciating the person and being happy that they're in your life and telling them how much you love them, not how much you can spend on them.

   I do hope that all my friends and family who have a birthday coming up have a wonderful time. I hope they all know how much I love them, and I'm sorry if the presents I get up you suck. Love you all!

Claire :)