This past week, I turned sixty-nine. 69! I can’t believe I’m this old. But rather than lament my loss of youth, I decided to count my blessings. One such blessing, my college-bound granddaughter, sat beside me while I wore the birthday sombrero at a local Mexican restaurant.

Another blessing is having a husband who asks me each year what I want to do for my birthday and then goes along with whatever I suggest, even when my idea isn’t his cup of tea. For example, he would never sign up himself for the Oakwood Christmas tour of homes in Raleigh that we did a few birthdays ago.

This year, I think he actually enjoyed the activity I chose. We went to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience in Raleigh, a virtual reality show I’d heard about for months but just hadn’t gotten around to booking.

The highlight of the exhibit is a light show with floor-to ceiling mapping and music featuring the artist’s paintings. It’s hard to capture the experience in a photo, but maybe you can get an idea from these depictions of “Almond Blossoms” and my favorite, “Starry Night.”

After this late afternoon visit to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience, we continued my birthday celebration with a trip to the Raleigh restaurant of my choice, the historic 42nd Street Oyster Bar in the Capital District. After my dinner of crab cakes, a decadent dessert, the peanut butter silk pie, served as my birthday cake. I wasn’t disappointed. Since my husband had clicked on “celebrating a special occasion” when he made the reservation online, the dessert was complimentary! Another blessing, right?

I used to think having a December birthday was a bit of a bummer. I felt my special day was lost in the month-long celebration of the season. But as I’ve become older, I realize the festive spirit that is part of the season only adds to my personal holiday. On my birthday morning this year, I made a batch of cherry cream cheese tarts (recipe below) for my upcoming book club Christmas party.

Before leaving for my Raleigh birthday fun, I fetched the day’s Amazon deliveries of Christmas packages off the porch.

And looking outside, I decided to add some red berries from my Nandina to the greenery arrangements on my back porch.

I’ve had quite a few years now of combining my birthday with Christmas preparations, and at sixty-nine, I now have the wisdom to count this as another blessing.

Merry Christmas, and to anyone born in December, Happy Birthday.

PS: In case you’re interested, here’s the recipe for the Cherry Cream Cheese Tarts (from a Cherry Oaks Garden Club of Greenville cookbook).