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Magnificat
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| Posted: April 02 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged
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OK- 
Perhaps this is a dumb question-but do you all do birthdays and such during Lent? Or do you wait until Sundays to celebrate?
My son's baptismal day is this Thursday (he's 9), and I guess I'm just not sure how to go about it. We usually do a cake and a gift- -pretty much like a birthday.
Any thoughts? I guess it just feels odd to me to be "celebrating" during a time of serious meditation (Lent)-yet it would feel just as odd to let the day pass by....
Am I puttng too much thought into this and making this more difficult than necessary??
Thanks for all your suggestions!
Charlotte
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Mary K
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| Posted: April 02 2006 at 11:19pm | IP Logged
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We have 2 or 3 birthdays during Lent. Our eldest daughter's birthday is 4/18, so her birthday is usually near Easter. We try to celebrate on Sundays, but that is not always possible. This year my son wanted a party with some friends so we had that on a Saturday. My house is too small for a combination party.
I don't think our children should have to forgo a birthday party due to the time of Church year they were born in.
Mary-NY
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 7:35am | IP Logged
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We do feast days and birthdays -- sort of. Usually we move dd's March 1st bday to the closest Sunday -- this works anyway cuz it's when extended family comes anyway.
Dh and I do celebrate our Anniversary -- Feast of the Annunciation -- except for last year when the 25th hit on Good Friday (and dh had wicked flu anyway).
Don't forget that Sundays during lent are not part of lent. We do try to minimize but not ignore competely...if you know what I mean.
Does this help or am I rambling on the first school day after time change and all of us are a bit foggy....
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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We do celebrate birthdays during Lent. This year my dd11 had a fairly big blast on a Friday night. If Easter is early than her birthday 3/25 is often during Holy Week, last year it was on Good Friday, she and her brothers had cake, the adults did not.
This is a tricky subject for me. I am one of 7 children and the only one still Catholic. I can remember as a child being resentful of being told you can't do this or that it is Lent. And never being given a good explaination. I want my children to love their faith. I am still trying to figure it all out  .
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mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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JennGM
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 8:59am | IP Logged
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My birthday falls in Lent every year, no matter when Lent is  My family always celebrated my birthday, for some of the same reasons as mentioned above. I shouldn't be punished for my birthday falling in Lent. It also is a little lesson in charity...sometimes a stretch for children, but for those who want to be strict with Lenten resolutions, it's thinking of the person whose special day is, not your own personal resolutions. As my one sister said, "I'm making the sacrifice to not make the sacrifice."
But we also move out celebrations to the weekend, usually Sunday, not just in Lent, but all year 'round for the convenience of getting family members together for the celebrations.
Charlotte, I would stay the course and do the same celebration as you would all year. I guess the only difference is that the next day there is no eating the leftover cake!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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Helen
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 11:26am | IP Logged
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Dear Charlotte,
The Church used to not allow marriages during Lent and Advent. But, now, we are allowed to marry during Lent and Advent. If the Church says one can get married during these seasons, then it must be permitted to have other celebrations. I hope this is sound reasoning.
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Ave Maria!
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Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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MaryM
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 2:07pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| My birthday falls in Lent every year, no matter when Lent is My family always celebrated my birthday, for some of the same reasons as mentioned above. |
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Mine, too. Well actually there have been a couple times it fell during Easter week so Lent was over. Last year it was on Easter for the first time ever. We always did celebrate also - sometimes on the weekend but not always. If it did fall on a Friday we didn't really celebrate that day. The saint's day feast for one of my kids is during Lent and we do commemorate that.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Magnificat
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 3:04pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for all of your responses! It's always good to "tap in" and see what everyone else does.
God Bless You all-
Charlotte in Newport News, VA
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ladybugs
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 9:25pm | IP Logged
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Hey Mary!
We have a March 1 birthday, too! We also have a March 5! We generally do a joint birthday party because the March 5 birthday is for my oldest daughter and the March 1 birthday is for my second daughter and they have alot of the same friends and my house could not sustain - let alone me sustaining - two different parties....each girl does get their own theme...
Isabella is a big LOTR fan and Juliana is a big Hello Kitty! fan but this year, Isabella had a skateboard cake and Juliana had a queen cake...and we celebrated on March 3....
Juliana's birthday did land on Ash Wednesday this year so we had dinner and a small recognition of her birthday including cake for the kids....
Just what happens in our home...
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Maria P
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Rachel May
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 9:57pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for this thread! The twins birthday is Good Friday this year, and my husband is having a hard time with the fact that I don't want to celebrate on a fast day. Since mine is nearly always in Lent (and was often forgotten in the shuffle of older sibs sacraments happening and Mom getting overwhelmed), my birthday is no big deal. I like celebrating it whenever we get the chance, but Bill has a thing about it being THE DAY.
I talked to the twins about Good Friday being a special day to think about the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and asked them if they would be willing to sacrifice their birthday day and celebrate early with me instead. They really didn't mind although, Bill is still asking why? Funny thing is, he might not even be here....
Anyway, reading this thread has been helpful since I can easily go with the hardcore camp. A little nudge toward charity is always helpful. 
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Celebrations during Lent
