Journal Jar: Next Tradition

The next tradition I'll write about is birthday traditions. Now, what's to this tradition? Presents? Cards? Cake? Most of us can expect some kind of acknowledgement on our birthday, either a gift, a card, or a "Happy Birthday" wish from friends or family. The one tradition I can remember from childhood, besides the above and which I have attempted to carry out with my own children, is that the birthday child gets to pick what's for dinner on his/her day. My favorite food growing up was fried chicken, so I'm sure I asked for that a lot. When someone asks me that question now, that's usually what I say. I remember when we first moved west, from La Grande OR to the Portland area, we were living with my grandparents. I was 7 years old when we first moved, but turned 8 about the time we moved in with my grandparents for a brief spell. My parents had separated, we were pretty poor I imagine. My mother wasn't working, so I expect we were being supported by aunts and uncles for that time in our life. I can remember Mom asking my brother what he wanted for his birthday dinner--it would have been his 7th birthday if I'm remembering the time right. He answered "Hot dogs," and I can remember my mother appearing to be very relieved, probably that it wasn't something like steak.

I don't remember many of the dishes my kids asked for, for their birthday supper. I remember my son asking for KMart sandwiches one year. I think he was probably about 4. KMart used to sell deli sandwiches, some kind of meat and cheese on a hamburger bun. For some reason, my son thought this was the best food in the world. And the twins would ask for something different, so I'd end up making two main dishes. The last couple of years it was steak for one, and Chicken Alfredo for the other.

So, what would you ask for if you had your choice, for your birthday dinner?