I do not like birthdays,

or at least my birthday.
If other people want to celebrate theirs then let them. I know some people actually like them. They like the fuss, the presents, being the centre of attention at some points in the day, having people say "Happy Birthday". I do not. Birthdays make me want to hibernate. I will come back after it is all over.
In our family five out of the six of us had our birthdays in the summer. My mother was first and the rest of us followed. Add Christmas and New Year and there were just too many things to be celebrated. My birthday was almost always given very little consideration. I never got used to the idea of having one.
If I am honest I have to say that not much was ever done about celebrating anyone's birthday. My mother never "had time" for that sort of thing. We did not have parties, indeed most of the time we were not even all in the same place. My parents would have come to the city from wherever they were teaching. One parent and two children would be with one set of grandparents and one parent and two children would be with the other set of grandparents. If I was lucky I would be with my paternal grandparents and that would mean going down for an early morning swim and icecream later in the day. They would not have dared to make too much fuss. If I was unlucky I would be with my maternal grandparents.
Our summer "holidays" were taken up with trips to the dentist, buying school supplies, my father visiting the university and other essentials. One year we did go on a camping trip to Canberra - so my father could go to a conference. My parents turned the trip into one long geography and history lesson. New Year's Eve was spent in an incredibly noisy caravan park with so much drunken and unruly behaviour in one part that the police were called in and my parents did not even remember it was my birthday they were so concerned for our safety. My father remembered the following day but my mother said it was "too late" to do anything about it. I was so glad to be away from that caravan park I no longer cared.
My birthdays have gone on being a bit like that caravan park year. Because it is New Year's Eve people who do know it is my birthday make the assumption that I will be going out, living it up - DOING something. I let them think that. It is easier that way. I do not want to head out into the heat and mix with drunken revellers to "see the New Year in".
My father and I have nothing planned for today apart from trying to keep cool and hydrated.
If I am still awake at midnight then what I will do is sit and look at the sky and think how lucky I am that I have had another year. The world is a very big place and there is still a lot of it to explore.