19. Twelve Days of Max

Happy Birthday

You’ve heard of the ‘twelve days of Christmas’ right? “The twelve days of Christmas my true love sent to me……” . This challenge was called ‘ twelve days of Max’. Max’s birthday falls on December 12 and sometimes when you’re born in December or early January your birthday goes a little un-noticed when everyone else is in the full swing of Christmas and New Year. Then you have to wait a whole year for your special day again. I’m born in May and I like how it is almost half-way through the year. A little bit of surprise and fun and something to look forward to (not so much now as it reminds of my own mortality!) The inspiration for this 18 day challenge was I wanted Max to feel his birthday mattered and this was a really special time in our family. Even though it was called the ‘the 12 days of Max’ I counted it as an 18 day challenge as it took some pre-loading and planning. I bought a big photo frame, printed out a whole bunch of pictures and inspirational quotes. On December the 1st I gave him the photo-frame and each day following I added one picture or quote. On his birthday he had the final product ‘the 12 days of Max’ picture. This was so much fun, he loved it. He looked forward to what was coming next. Little bits of love and fun over a long time built anticipation for the big day. The follow-on effect was Max was the driving force for Flynn’s birthday and he came up with ‘the 13 days of Flynn’ as he was turning 13. I wonder if they will do a ‘40+days for Mum’? Now that would take some planning!