I had a birthday party.

I feel like a little kid. I had a birthday party, people. A SURPRISE birthday party. On my actual birthday. With friends and candles and a cake with a pony on it and pizza and BIRTHDAY cards. And even a couple of presents. I keep getting all teary-eyed whenever I think about it. Then I get over feeling teary-eyed and feel like jumping up and down.

Anyone out there who has a birthday really close to Christmas knows it's not really the most fun time of the year to celebrate a birthday. I mean, there are a lot of things in life that are a whole lot worse, but...it's just kinda not that fun. Most people forget your birthday entirely (or at least, they did before Facebook). It's rare to get a birthday card from a friend because everyone's so wrapped up with Christmas cards. Presents are usually lumped in as "Christmas and birthday" (which is only cool if it's a really neat present), and forget about having a birthday party; everyone's either out of town or busy with the holidays. So yesterday was really, really awesome for me. I do wish more people could have been there (apparently the whole thing was last minute and the word didn't really get out to everyone), but with the Christmas Carol cast factored in, it felt like a LOT of people. And they all said surprise! And sang me happy birthday!

(Suddenly I'm taken back to a video of myself as a four-year-old child, opening a cheap plastic doll from a random old lady who was the mom of one of my mom's friends. I looked at the package and exclaimed gleefully, "Oh, it's just what I always wanted!". Apparently I take a lot of pleasure in the simple things.)

I have a really awesome husband who managed to keep a secret from me. And I have a really awesome best friend who somehow manages to do just the right thing sometimes.