Meet the Ulster folk who were born on Christmas Day

When David McConville was born on Christmas Day, 1962, his brother was less than impressed.

‘‘I was born at home, my big brother was three and my sister was six,’’ said David.

‘‘My mother came down the stairs and said ‘Look what Santa brought you’. My brother burst into tears and said ‘I wanted an Action Man!’.’’

It may not have been David’s brother’s idea of a dream present, but for many parents a Christmas Day baby is the ultimate gift.

According to an old superstition, ‘The child born on Christmas Day will have a special fortune’ (perhaps to make up for getting cheated on birthday presents!).

Christmas is all about one man’s birthday - and David, from Lurgan, is one of a very small number of people who share the auspicious date with Jesus Christ.

So does it mean double the parties, double the celebrations and, most importantly, double the presents? It does for David.

‘‘I got my presents in the morning from Santa and I got my birthday present and a wee cake in the afternoon. I never felt like I was missing out.’’

David, who works as a window cleaner, is one of six children, and every December 25 each of his siblings gives him a birthday card with money.

‘‘They still buy me something for Christmas too,’’ he said.

The largesse extends to his children, who make sure to spoil their dad.

‘‘My son Mark brought me to Sunderland for a Sunderland and Arsenal match for my 50th birthday. He paid for the flights, hotel and tickets. It was brilliant.

‘‘My other son Luke makes me a CD for Father’s Day and a CD for my birthday. He’s been doing it for me since he was about seven. He’s now 23.’’

David said he’s never thought about holding his birthday on a different day from Christmas.

‘‘It has never even come into my head because I’m happy enough.’’

Being born on Christmas Day means there will doubtless be plenty of bad jokes like, ‘are you and Jesus twins/are you actually Jesus Christ?’. It also means plenty of funny stories.

David said: ‘‘Before the christening, when I was only three or four days old, my mum wanted to call me Gabriel, after the angel Gabriel. My dad and my godfather had been out for a drink to celebrate and they came back home and my dad said to me, ‘What about you wee Gabby’ and my ma said ‘That’s it, he’s being called after you’ - my da is called David.’’

Many hold the view that Christmas could well be the most advantageous day on which to be born, as it comes with a guaranteed jollity, lots of feasting and a party atmosphere.

But, of course, it could also be used by Scrooge-like loved ones as an excuse to halve your annual allowance of presents.

Most of us enjoy being the centre of attention on our birthday, but those born on Christmas Day may struggle for the limelight. Instead of being the most wonderful, sparkly, tinsel-filled day ever, both celebrations may be diluted.

It could also be a tad lonely - December 25 is the rarest birthday (other than February 29), despite being perhaps the world’s most famous day.

Given its rarity, it is most unusual then to discover that the two most exciting days of the calendar year fall together for two brothers - who are not twins.

David Murphy and his brother Noel were both born on Christmas Day, exactly six years apart.

Noel, who was born in 1956 and lives in Dungannon, said he felt a ‘wee bit annoyed’ that he wasn’t born on a different date.

‘‘Obviously you miss out on a birthday present and a birthday party because I got the both of them as Christmas.

‘‘Then as I got a bit older I realised that there was a fair good chance that I was going to be off school on my birthday and off work, so that evened it out a bit. Once I was old enough to realise birthdays and Christmases were just the same, I just accepted it and got on with it.’’

There may have been a lack of fanfare over his birthday, but Noel said his late grandfather never forgot to mark the occasion.

‘‘He lived with us for a long time and used to make a wee point and give me a few shillings or a 50p and he would say to me ‘that’s for your birthday’.’’

Noel added: ‘‘December was a busy month for us all. Obviously with my brother David being on Christmas Day as well, and our middle brother was born on December 10 which was also my mother and father’s wedding anniversary.’’

Like many Christmas Day babies, Noel was bestowed with a Christmassy name.

‘‘My mother tells the story, I’m not sure if it’s true or not, that whenever I was born and being carried out of the delivery room down to the ward, there were three of four nurses waiting there and they all starting singing ‘Noelle, Noelle’, and that’s how I got named,’’ said Noel.

‘‘I was born in South Tyrone Hospital and in those days being born on Christmas Day was a big thing. The nurses had been waiting all day on somebody giving birth. I think I was born at 8.30pm, but I was the first Christmas Day baby that particular year.’’

Noel’s birthdays past may have been without occasion, but these days his three grown-up children Laura, Jill and Richard, make sure to get him separate presents for Christmas and his birthday.

‘‘My son-in-law is a photographer and every year he makes us a calendar with photographs of our two grandchildren.

‘‘The oldest grandchild Chloe was at our house recently and was marking off dates on the calendar - she came to the 25th and she wrote ‘Granda’s birthday’,’’ he laughed.

Brother David, an electrician who lives in Portadown, was born at home on Christmas Day 1962, and he too has a Biblical name.

‘‘When the midwife came out she said to my mother ‘Would you do me a favour and call him David’, he said.

Reflecting on his younger days David said: ‘‘We never had birthday cakes...the first birthday cake I remember getting was for my 18th. It was a different era; now it’s totally different - you can get cards with Christmas birthday. When we were young there was nothing like that -if you got a birthday card at all it was a bonus.

‘‘It wasn’t until late primary school, going into secondary school, I realised that people had a birthday and Christmas separate’’

And David has plenty of funny stories relating to his unusual birth date.

‘‘Many of years ago when my son was at primary school the teacher asked ‘Who was born on Christmas Day?’. He shot up his hand and said ‘My daddy’. She took it with a pinch of salt and later on she asked the same question, ‘Who was born on Christmas Day?’ and this time he said ‘My uncle Noel!’.’’