(This article has been published in area newspapers. Connie Wieck is a Marshall, Illinois native who will soon be leaving for Vientiane, Laos.   She will be assuming duties as Coordinator of the Sunbeam Vocational and Language Center, which serves the needs of local elementary, secondary and tertiary schools, as well as outlying villages, by providing educational workshops, seminars and English language courses. )

“I don’t want a big fuss.”

That was my mom’s recent comment concerning her birthday. 

 But how can I, her daughter, not want a big fuss?  Aside from it being her 90th, her November 23^rd celebrations fall directly on Thanksgiving Day itself. 

       For those who have late November birthdays, you might have similar stories of doubling jubilees.   November 22 – 28 births, on certain years, fall on Turkey Day itself. Anyone reading this know of a friend, a relative or even yourself whose pumpkin pie has become the focal point for candles and the traditional “Happy Birthday” song?  

      If you’re like me, you might have wondered how often such birthdays fall on Thanksgiving Day.  A Google search found me reading an interesting post written by Scott Forbes in 2010.  The patent attorney’s blog, which he wrote out of Seattle, gave his fact-finding research concerning his own Thanksgiving Day birthday.  It’s a mish-mash of calculations, and took me several reads for full clarity, but I include it below as it does make for a fascinating read:  

      ”The simple formula for calculating the date of Thanksgiving is to take last year’s date and subtract a day, and then add seven days if you’ve ended up on the 21st… so if Thanksgiving 2009 was on the 26th (which it was), then Thanksgiving 2010 would be on the 25th, and in 2011 it will be on the 24th.”

“But then things start getting complicated, because 2012 is a leap year. Thanksgiving 2012  is on the 22nd, not the 23rd – that extra day in February pushes us back two days instead of just one. And then, in 2013, we wrap around: One day earlier than the 22nd would be the 21st, but now we’re looking at the third Thursday of the month, so we add seven days to get Thanksgiving on the 28th.”

       “All this adds up to a pattern that takes 2800 years to go through a full cycle, thanks to our calendar’s quirky rules for determining whether it’s a leap year or not. In the short term (that is, from 1901 to 2099) there’s a leap year every four years, and your birthday will be on Thanksgiving four times out of every 28: If your birthday falls on Thanksgiving in a given year, then it falls on Thanksgiving again exactly 28 years later, and three other times in between at intervals of six years, five years, six years, and then eleven years.”

      Scott’s article included a rundown of Thanksgiving Day birthdays from 2017 onward, including my mom’s on November 23rd.  Here’s what he had listed for her special day:  2017, 2023, 2028, 2034, 2045, 2051, 2056, 2062, 2073, 2079, 2084, 2090.(Scott’s full Thanksgiving Day chart for November 22 – 28 birthdays can be found at scottforbes.net, the July 7, 2010 blog entry.)

But what about my mom’s past Thanksgiving Day birthdays?  

Yet another search gave me the ability to count how many birthdays my mom, in her 90 years, had landed a turkey dinner for her birthday festivities.  

For my mom, this has happened 12 times in her lifetime, with this year being her 13th.  If you believe that number is unlucky, read on:  My mom’s 13 actually should be 14.  

 In 1863,  President Abraham Lincoln called for “A Day of Praise and Thanksgiving” to fall on the last Thursday of November as a national holiday.  In 1933, my mom’s birth year, November had 5 Thursdays.  Thus the fifth Thursday, November 30^th , became Thanksgiving Day instead of the fourth Thursday, November 23^rd. (That would have given her 14 Thanksgiving Day birthdays  instead of this year’s 13).  In November 1939, yet another 5^th Thursday calendar year came around.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving a week earlier to make business leaders happy by adding more days for Christmas shopping.  In rebellion, some state legislatures voted their states celebrate on the 5^th Thursday of November; others sided with the president by celebrating on the 4^th Thursday.   Two years later, the holiday dilemma was settled.   On December 26, 1941, FDR signed Congress’ executive bill making the 4^th Thursday in November the official day of Thanksgiving for the United States.   It has remained so today.

 I know my mom insisted on a no-fuss 90th, but looks to me as if her special day can’t be anything but. Sorry, Mom. You’ll just have to put up with a little bit of birthday hoopla mixed in with a whole lot of love.

(From daughter Connie:  Anyone wishing to add to my mom’s “no-fuss” celebrations can mail cards to:  Priscilla Wieck  710 Mulberry Street  Marshall, IL 62441.  Your birthday wishes will be greatly appreciated.)