One of my favorite things

Tuesday was my birthday but, unlike Oprah, I can't give everybody a truckload of goodies.  But I can share one thing that is very precious to me... the Birthday Dollar!  My sisters and I started a tradition a  few  years ago of passing along a dollar on each person's birthday.  The recipient signs it when she gets it, then keeps it til the next birthday.

This is a long story, so hang in with me if you can...

It all started when Ruby sent me a dollar in my birthday card...you'd have to know Ruby to understand how funny it was!  Then I started thinking... hmmm... maybe I'll send this dollar to Michelle on her birthday! So I signed it and told Shell what I was doing, and suggested she send it to Ruby on her birthday.  Shell signed it and sent it to Ruby -- and Ruby lost it!  ouch!

So... Ruby signed another dollar and sent it to me in January on my birthday; I signed it, sent to Shell in February, she signed it, sent it to Ruby in April -- and Ruby lost it!  goodness! 

SO... Ruby signed another dollar and sent it to me in January, I signed it and passed it to Michelle in February, who signed it and sent it to Ruby in April, who signed it and sent it to me in January... now we're rolling! 

Then I said, hey!  We're leaving Faye out of the loop!  So in September Ruby sent it to Faye on her birthday but forgot to tell her what we were doing -- and Faye gave it to her youngest for milk money!  NO SHE DIDN'T!!

Okay, let's try it again, we can do this...

Faye started a new dollar in 1996 by writing our birthdays on it, and sent it to me in January 1997, I passed it along to Shell, she passed it along to Ruby, who passed it to Faye, who passed it to me. We finally got it right, yes!!! 

So our official Birthday Dollar has been travelling between DC, New Jersey, Virginia and California since 1996.  Shell just sent it to me this week and I'll send it back to her in February.

This dollar is really precious to me because Faye passed away in April 2005, her last signature was in September 2004.  Ruby's last signature was in April 2008, she passed away in July of that year.

That's the story of our Birthday Dollar!  What traditions do you have?