Don Lemon has had a lot of things to stress about lately, but his 60th birthday isn’t one of them … he told us he’s celebrating the milestone with the ultimate way to relax!

The big day isn’t until Sunday, but the journalist tells TMZ … he started the festivities Friday night with a dinner at a friend’s house in Beverly Hills. Then, it’s on to the NAACP Image Awards tonight, where he’s being honored with 4 awards, followed by dinner with husband Tim Malone.

And on the actual day? He tells us it’ll be a “spa day in a beach town.”

Can’t blame the guy for wanting to just kick back. His birthday comes on the heels of him being named in a lawsuit by an alleged parishioner of The Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota for allegedly disrupting a service last month.

Remember … Lemon covered a protest at The Cities Church last month as demonstrators went to confront pastor David Easterwood, who is a Minneapolis ICE official. He ended up getting arrested and charged with federal crimes — to which he pleaded not guilty.

The lawsuit claims Don acted with the protesters and caused the parishioner “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma.”

As we reported … Don insists he was simply exercising his First Amendment right as a reporter to document the church demonstration, shining a light on the event as a journalist, and later vowed not to be silenced.