You say it's your birthday, December 2044

Round 36: December 2044 (Summer)

Shortly before her 24th birthday, Louisa Gentry gets a very exciting phone call. 

It’s Finn Romilly, principal of the high school, asking if she’s still interested in the position of school counsellor, which she interviewed for a few months back.

It turns out that the counsellor they hired over Louisa didn’t work out and they’re looking for someone new to start at the beginning of the next school year.

Louisa knows she didn't perform that well in her interview, so she's surprised but relieved. It doesn’t take her very long at all to accept the job offer!

Her news certainly makes her birthday celebrations a couple of days later much sweeter!

Boyfriend Justin Moretti is thrilled for her. Louisa will start work at the school in mid-January, before the students come back, so she has only about three weeks left at her current job.

Louisa can hardly wait. She and Justin are already making plans for what to do with the extra cash they’ll have coming in. First on the list is paying off the remainder of their mortgage!

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Oliver and Sophie Gentry had hoped to do something special for their first wedding anniversary but finances have made that quite difficult.

They can’t afford a holiday, or even the adoption fee for the dog they’ve been talking about getting.

Neither one of them are too down about it. Being short on cash is not a new thing for them and they’ve learnt to make their own fun. 

Maybe for their second anniversary, they’ll be able to actually leave the house but this year, they make the best of their quiet evening at home. 

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Christmas is fast approaching and Emil Collins has decided to invite the kids and grandkids over for the big day.

Wife Anna isn’t thrilled about the idea and would rather go see them elsewhere - their house is really rather small and the work of entertaining is not a job she relishes.

Emil has promised that he’ll take care of the food and Anna won’t have to lift a finger, which is the only reason she finally relented. 

Anna does find herself looking forward to it though and even picks up three stockings for the mantelpiece, one for each of their grandsons.

Of course, Byron and Noel have very little clue of what’s going on anyway!

Mason isn’t much more aware but he did love seeing his grandparents again. Anna has become a little bit warmer in her old(er) age.

Much of the talk centred around Rebecca’s imminent return to work after a year’s maternity leave, which she is both looking forward to and dreading. 

But of course, the main topic of conversation is Hope’s pregnancy. She and Malcolm have about 10 weeks ago until they meet the new baby.

Emil, as the only non-working grandparent, is ready and waiting to watch Mason as soon as he gets that phone call!

Other birthdays this month:
Will and Levi Draper turn 12
Justin and Xavier Moretti - 23
Eddie Gentry turns 24
Rob Ashton turns 43
Jacob Kirby turns 43
Zaria Royce-Nihill - 56
Megan Kirby turns 72
Magdalena Novak turns 80

December wedding anniversaries:
Lucy and Edward Lachance - 3 years

Luc and Asha Lane - 16 years

Owen and Naomi Novak - 34 years

Notes:

• Louisa finally has her dream job! In game, she actually got it at the very end of the last play session - literally seconds before I quit out. I considered having her work at the primary school instead but a) I don't currently have a primary school building and b) I think she'll have more to do at the high school. It made sense to me that Finn might go over previous interviewees before advertising again so quickly after the last time. 
• Sophie and Oliver have less than $1000 to their name and both a holiday and a dog cost (way) more than that. Seriously, shelter dogs are expensive in TS2! 
• Byron and Noel are way too small for 11-month-olds! But I'll be aging them up in January birthdays, so we'll see them soon anyway. And this was the first time I've ever done Christmas with this family, so that was fun!