Are Birthdays Considered Holidays? I Say Yes!

Several years ago, my son, Mark,  had a birthday coming up just about a month after my epic journey to Paris, France for breakfast took place.  I decided to surprise him for his special day – so I booked flights for the two of us to fly to Amsterdam for the day as a birthday present to him.

We left Portland, Oregon on a Friday morning, the day before his birthday, and flew to Amsterdam, arriving early Saturday morning.  We spent the day walking up and down streets, going to places like the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, visiting a coffee shop (and no, it’s not the kind of place you go to for coffee), taking a canal boat to the other side of town, and cruising through the red light district.  We listened to a didgeridoo player on a bridge (short video of a didgeridoo player), hand-cranked a draw-bridge open and then closed it again, watched ice-skaters skating outside in the park, and mugged for the camera at the I amsterdam installation.

For dinner that night, I had booked a special birthday celebration through dinewiththedutch.com with a couple of women who lived at the corner of the Amstel River and one of the main canals. (Dine With the Dutch is a website where you can arrange to have dinner with local people.)  The women cooked us a “locals” kind of meal (they had a name for it but I can’t remember what it was, only that it was delicious!) and sang Happy Birthday in Dutch to Mark.  What a charming couple they were and dinner with them was so much fun!

We headed back to the airport late that night (or early the next morning?) and after buying a few airport-type souveniers, we stretched out in Schipol Airport’s “sleeping lounge chairs” for a short snooze before our departure to go back home to Portland (those Dutch really know how to take care of travelers!  This airport even has showers!)  Our one-day adventure in Amsterdam for Mark’s birthday was coming to a close, and even though I remember many birthdays spent at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor with giant ice cream sundaes and bowling parties at Starlight Lanes, this particular celebration will always be a huge highlight for me.  It was a delightful way to spend a birthday – and a day with my son!

So are birthdays considered holidays?  I say yes!

What about you?  What do you think?  Do you celebrate birthdays like you do holidays?

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To see more photos of this trip, CLICK HERE.

Today’s post is Prompt #27 from Bootsnall 30 Days of Indie Art Project: Tell us about a time you celebrated a holiday abroad