All I Want For Christmas... Is Me

Christmas is a time to gather with the ones you love.  It is a time to reflect on the year past and give thanks for the good times, give respect to the not so good times.  But, one thing we must not forget, and something we've forgotten as a society, is the birth.  Say it as you wish, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas.  But one thing that has truly been neglected over the years, is our celebration of the birth.

The birth of Me.

December 23, 1981.  Terri Lee Friesen was born to Jeri & Wendy Friesen in Winkler, Manitoba.  My wonderful parents couldn't have timed my conception any better, Gods love 'em!  Two days prior to Christmas when the focus is in fact NOT me... it's some other dude.  Glory hound.

I can always count on members of my extended family to send me well wishes or give me a birthday hug... because I'm usually around most of them at the Christmas gathering on December 23rd.  A work lunch or coffee break is nonexistent because coworkers are focused on the clock so they can get to their last minute gift shopping.  No party, rarely a cake and the classic birthday phone calls on December 27... or January 6.

A shared 'holiday' is the day of my birth.  People often ask me if I hate it.  Of course not!  I was born with it!   I know nothing of a summer birthday with pool parties and camp outs.  And that's just fine!  I may sound bitter... but trust me, I am not!  Just illustrating a point.  In fact, having my birthday overshadowed by the most commercialized holiday on the calendar is a good thing.  I get to dodge the spotlight!

Instead of a big deal, I get to enjoy my birthday privately with my husband, going out for dinner, maybe a movie (followed by last minute Christmas shopping, of course).  My brother & sister-in-law are out for the holidays from Toronto, so a HUGE bonus is being able to spend my birthday with them.  If it were on March 18th, I wouldn't get that opportunity.  And I can always count on my parents to organize a private family dinner, either out at one of my favorite Winnipeg restaurants, or in their dining room with a meal made especially for me.  And the phone calls with well wishes from my in-laws and my Best Friend Melissa are always right on the dot.

I'm not bitter at all.  My birthday flies under the radar to most, but not for the ones that are the most important to me.  My family.

And this year, on December 23rd, it is I who will be traveling home for the holidays... AND to celebrate my birthday with the ones I love.

Ornaments hand crafted by my Great-Grandma... still on the tree every year

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That said... THIS year, I decided to throw myself a birthday party.

Let them eat cake or not...the cake disappeared to never be seen again.

All that talk about not wanting the attention, spotlight blah blah blah.  It's true for the most part.  But this year, I felt different.  And being in Miami probably contributes to that.  I wanted the spotlight on the celebration of my birth.  And I figured, if Christmas can piggy-back on MY birthday... well, I'm going to piggy Christmas right back.

Windy night on the terrace at Rusty Pelican

The Imagina (company I work for - pronounced EE-ma-HEE-na) holiday party was on Thursday at a ritzy place on Key Biscayne called the Rusty Pelican.  'Rusty', it most certainly was not.  Imagina arranged for a classy reception on a terrace overlooking Biscayne Bay with a beautiful sightline of downtown Miami.  Gorgeous.  Everybody was dolled up in their holiday-best, thrilled to have some time to unwind with co-workers, and the FREE bar certainly helped everyone achieve that.

What better pre-cursor to a birthday party??

Jesus does not approve.  No seriously, his name is Jesus.

After much eating and drinking on the bay, the party moved to South Miami Beach to a club called 'Mansion'.   Thanks to the connections of a dear friend at work, we were able to arrange a private VIP area for the 25-30 people in our party.  Much dancing, much drinking and much laughing ensued.  Mansion is a very snazzy place with interesting clientelle, to say the least.  Over the course of the night, we witnessed many interesting scenes.

TMI, Santa... TMI

People curled up for a nap in the middle of our party... people we didn't know.  A lady wearing white feathers trying to coerce people to give her tips in exchange for a massage.  I think I heard her mention she worked for Wet Magazine.  Goodness.

Naked Santa also made an appearance.  A random older man with a Santa Hat and a pink tutu... and not much else.  He was the source of many patron's photo opportunities throughout the evening.  Especially when the tutu mysteriously disappeared.  And how could we forget the fornicating.  The couple, in a seated position, gyrating to the beat of the music, 5 feet from where I was standing.  That was a bit of a shock.  While Jeremy and I were amazed at the scenes before us, others simply shrugged it off.  Afterall, we were in South Beach, anything can happen there.  Duly noted!

After the party died down at Mansion, a few of us remaining headed over to the uber-posh Liv night club.  This was the scene at 3:30am when we arrived.

Party still going strong.  And that's only because the music was absolutely infectious.  The country's best DJ's play here (Tiesto played Sunday night - SUNDAY!!) and make tens of thousands of dollars per NIGHT (20-30k)  Sometimes more.  We definitely hope to frequent this place from time to time over the course of our stay here.

"These pants are RED?  I'm outta here!"

For two Prairie Canadians, it was a new (sometimes eye-opening) experience and a fabulous one at that!  We had a great time.  Jeremy was a huge hit.  Sorry, Jeremy's pants were a huge hit.  Remember the red pants???  Well, he bought 'em!  And he wore 'em!  And he rocked 'em!

All in all, it was a wonderful night and I am thankful to have such great friends who joined me to celebrate.

I could get used to this whole 'birthday party' idea...  maybe I'll throw another one next month.