Jonathon Delacour: I know that those of us who have birthdays close to Christmas sometimes wish we'd been born around the middle of the year instead so that our birthday celebrations wouldn't get lost in the pre-Christmas panic or the post-Christmas torpor (in Australia anyway).

So I'm proposing that anyone born between November 24 and January 24 is entitled to a half-year birthday—with Mark's birthday and mine setting the boundaries for the half-year birthday period of grace.

Being born on December 21st, I definately understand the sentiment.  When I was young, my sister once asked me if I would mind if she combined my gifts for that year.  I said I didn't, as long as she didn't mind me combining hers. [Sam Ruby]

Never had that problem, being born on June 26 :-)  The other fortunate side effect of this was that I never had school on my birthday - the closest I came was my senior year, which ended June 25.  My wife's birthday is Feb 20, and she's extremely sensitive about getting it mixed in with Valentine's Day.  The way things are working out, it looks like I'm going to be sharing my birthday with our daughter, who'll be born by July 10, one way or the other.