Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday
Triplets Bethany Zyra, Benjamin Zyra and Megan McCullough were born on Christmas Day. The trio would celebrate their birthday Christmas evening.
Abby Dains was born on Christmas Day and celebrates her birthday on Christmas Eve. Dains said having her birthday on Christmas just made it more special.
The Zyra triplets have spent their lives sharing a birthday with each other.
But they also share it with Jesus Christ.
The siblings, Bethany and Benjamin Zyra, and Megan McCullough, were born on Christmas Day, and every Dec. 25 their birthday competes with the biggest holiday celebration of the year.
But the triplets never felt like their birthday got lost in the Christmas shuffle, and they never thought they played second fiddle to infant Jesus.
“Our mom was very conscientious about that. She wanted to make sure we got a special day; she didn’t want us to feel left out,” said McCullough.
In fact, they agreed, their parents probably overcompensated and lavished them with too many Christmas and birthday presents.
The Zyras have followed the same tradition for the past 31 years, dividing the day in half. On Christmas morning, they celebrate the holiday by opening Christmas presents wrapped, of course, in Christmas paper.
In the evening, the trio and their family share dinner, cut into a winter-themed Black Forest birthday cake and exchange birthday presents.
“I always enjoyed (the Christmas birthday). It’s always a good conversation starter,” said Ben Zyra.
Christmas Day is one of the two most uncommon days for a birthday to fall on – Feb. 29 is the other – and several Washington County Christmas babies said they enjoy their unique birthday, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Abby Dains of Chartiers Township was born on Christmas Day 1982.
Dains still has the Christmas cap and the red Christmas stocking the hospital tucked her in after she was born.
Growing up, Dains’s family observed her birthday with a cake on Christmas Eve.
She never celebrated a traditional birthday party with friends, but when she was in high school, a former boyfriend organized a surprise birthday party for her on her half-birthday in June.
Dains said she occasionally got a “Merry Happy Christmas Birthday” gift, which bothered her a little when she was growing up.
But now, I enjoy having this birthday,” said Dains.
When they got engaged, Dains’s now-husband, John, suggested they get married on Christmas Day.
“That way, he would have Christmas Day, my birthday and our anniversary on the same day, and it would be easy to remember. I did not let that happen,” said Dains, noting the couple got married on Valentine’s Day instead.
Holly Evans of Waynesburg was born shortly after 1 a.m. on Christmas Day 1968.
Her parents had been expecting a boy, and had no girl names picked out.
“My aunt says she told my parents, ‘Why don’t you name her Holly?'” Evans said.
Her parents threw her an annual birthday party on a separate day, usually before Christmas.
“When I was a little girl, my mom was really good at making sure I had a birthday, and I remember I’d have a birthday party with relatives and friends,” said Evans. “I have lots of cousins and I’d have some school friends. I always had a cake at the party, not on Christmas.”
A reading specialist at Waynesburg Central Elementary School, Evans, a petite 4 feet, 11 inches tall, recalled sharing with kindergarten students years ago that her first name was Holly and that she was born on Christmas Day.
“One boy said, ‘Ohhh!” like he just had a revelation. ‘That’s why you’re like a midget elf!'” recalled Evans, laughing.
She told the class that she did, in fact, know Santa Claus, and she wore elf ears in the classroom at Christmastime that year.
“I never felt ripped off. I always felt a little bit special,” said Evans, whose husband was born on New Year’s Day. “I don’t know what it would be like to have a regular birthday. It’s kind of neat being born on Christmas.”