Thirty years ago on Christmas Day, I brought home a very special present: our firstborn child, a daughter.

The contractions started while I was gift shopping at Macy’s, but I refused to get out of line until completing my purchases. After 48 hours of stop-and-go labor, she finally arrived the night of Dec. 23.

Santa stopped by the maternity ward at the Maui hospital the next day to see how we were doing. Cradling a tightly swathed bundle with a pinched, red face and shock of black hair, I posed for a photo with the jolly old elf. I was radiant in a sassy red peignoir set, complete with discreet openings for nursing, that my ever-elegant mother had bought for me. (It would be awhile before I looked that good again.)

On Christmas morning, I awoke before dawn, baby asleep in a bassinet at my bedside. Not a creature was stirring, not even the Kahului roosters, and I watched as a low-lying cloud floated across the still grounds. I took it as a cue and softly hummed “Silent Night” to my newborn.

We named her Maria after my husband’s mother and grandmother, but it was apropos to the season as well.

Later that day, on the drive home, with Baby Girl securely strapped into her car seat, I burst into tears, probably from a rush of hormones and exhaustion. My husband had no idea what was going on and kept glancing nervously at me in the rearview mirror as I sat next to our new arrival.

When we pulled up to our little cottage in frosty Makawao, we were greeted by a scraggly fir tree whose flimsy branches drooped from the weight of a string of colored lights. My mom, who had come from Honolulu for the birth, had decided on Christmas Eve to get a tree, and it was all that was left at the corner lot. We called it our Charlie Brown tree, and that is exactly what it looked like.

Since then, every December has brought two celebrations: Baby Girl’s birthday and Christmas. Through the years, we made every effort not to shortchange her special day, making a clear distinction between the two occasions. It was hard to assemble her friends for birthday parties so close to Dec. 25, so we began holding them earlier in the month before the school break.

On Saturday our Baby Girl will turn 30. She’s just as stunned by that as her parents are.

She’ll be coming over from Maui for her birthday and staying through Christmas. We’re planning to check out the Honolulu City Lights displays and enjoy other festive food and fun. And at some point, probably while scratching her back, I’ll hum “Silent Night.”

“She Speaks” is a weekly column by women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@staradvertiser.com.