There’s a lot of complaining about December birthdays. I have two friends born on December 25^th, another December 23^rd, and my husband’s is December 30^th. They all have bemoaned the sharing of their birthday with Christmas. Even my mother, a December 16^th child, has talked about having birthday presents combined with Christmas presents, which according to at least one web critic is a big no-no.

Yet, I wonder if people who have January birthdays could be worse off? I’m an October baby (as faithful readers well know by now). So, I don’t have personal experience with this.

Only it seems to me that January babies could encounter the following:

• Gift givers being plain tuckered out with shopping.
• Bank accounts are especially strained after the holidays.
• Re-gifted gifts. (So, I didn’t like it under the tree, but it’s perfect for you!).*

Of course, I’m not going to feel too badly for the January baby. After all, there are studies showing the many advantages that come from being born at the start of the year. I wrote about what Malcolm Gladwell said about this just last month.

Still, I don’t want to squash the enthusiasm of any January babies. So, I’ll end off with this list of special things about this birth month courtesy of American Greetings:

• January is home of several awesome national monthly observances, including National Hobby Month, National Blood Donor Month, National Book Month, and National Thank You Month.
• January is a month of extremes! It is the coldest month in the northern hemisphere and the hottest month in the southern hemisphere.
• Your birthstone is the garnet, which represents purity, truth and friendship.
• The flowers of January are the snowdrop and the carnation.

Oh, OK, one more downside from a Pinterest posting to consider:

*Re-gifting is not one of the birthday taboos I wrote about previously. Maybe it should have been.