Brothers exchange same birthday card since 1973

[March 10, 2009]  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Darryl and Dan Culberson didn't have to wait for the latest recession to become frugal.

The brothers have been saving money every year with a friendly game of one-upmanship when it comes to being cheap, exchanging the same birthday card since 1973. The tradition started when, in lieu of a present, 62-year-old Darryl sent his older brother a card of a masked bandit on a motorcycle with the caption, "The Phantom Cheapo strikes again!"

Darryl calls his 68-year-old brother "the cheapest person I've ever met."

Not to be outdone, Dan decided to send the card back when it was his brother's birthday.

So for 36 years, Darryl has sent the card in January to Dan in Boulder, and he sends it back to Darryl in Colorado Springs in March.

The card has yellowed over the years, and the greetings now run along the back cover, one concise greeting after another. The card is held together with tape.

With the brothers running out of room to write greetings, Dan jokes one of them will have to break down and buy a new card soon.

Once, Darryl thought he had lost the card, but found it amid papers in a desk.

"It was terrible. I was really upset about that," he told The Colorado Springs Gazette. "We always kid each other about what we're going to do when we run out of space. And we hope that it stays together enough until we die."

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com/

[Associated Press]

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