Post your top tips for surviving Christmas with a baby here.

Oldie, but no worse for it:

ASSEMBLE ALL TOYS THE NIGHT BEFORE

Unless of course it is part of your strategy to neutralise every male in the household over thirteen on Christmas morning while you cook, and they sit in the spare room fiddling with allen keys and surrounded by unidentied 'bits'.

SQ, I was pregnant when I got married, so its not as extreme as it sounds ! And I looked hideous, I remember crying that night.

Don't come home from hospital until its over. Thats the plan for this year, anyway...

Oh yes, good tip Caz.

If that's not possible, invite noone round, and sit in your drewssing ghown with the curtains drwan eating turkey and oven chips (or anuything else that involves no perparation!!!!!)

Go to someone's elses house and let them do the cooking whilst you do the breastfeeding and drinking of gin (and mulled wine!)

Make sure you get plenty of pics of you baby dressed up in "amuising" novelty clothges (think Little Christmas Pudding/Santa's little helpertype stuff)

These can be used in the future for bribery purposes, especially arpound cool friends and potentail consorts

(Consorts, I sound like me mother)

I promise I will stop now.........

minim - you fitted into a tight, boned wedding dress 6 weeks after having a baby?

Dont think its a good idea to dress up for Xmas night party in your dark red, boned, tight wedding dress when 6 weeks post natal, which then floods with breast milk, and looks hideous [grin}

and of course, my one-size-fits-all-occasions top tip when dealing with children of any age:

It's never to early for gin.

Remeber that this willbe the last year that your baby won;t realise thet you are eatinmg all of his or her chocolate as well as yourt own.

In fact, if you are really lucky, you will have a newborn, who you can eat the choclate in fron of without them batting an eyelid

Scoff scoff scoff....

and where's the link to Vicki's pearls of wisdom? "dear MNer, i'm so glad you asked about how to make coffee quickly on christmas day while caring for a baby. i'd recommend the Philips Senseo, it'a a highly expensive pod system than you won't tire of, nosirree. not even when you catch yourself in the supermarket thinking 'i'm paying how much for these pod things when i could be spooning it in and saving myself a fortune??!!'."

okay, but how do I post a normal tip?