Memories of your babies first Christmas

[Lola001]

This Christmas will be my long awaited babies first Christmas, she will only be five months old and I know if I'm lucky she will look at the twinkling lights and that will be about it. But I really want to start some little traditions, and (yes more for me than her this year) do some Christmas things with her.

I never did this in my childhood - money sadly wasn't there though I was extremely fortunate that the love and my family was my favourite memory was a walk around the village.

Can you tell me about your babies first Christmas? It's a while off but I'm thinking I will need to start booking stuff.

Honestly, don't spend money booking things because they have no idea! Save that for years 2/3+ when it will be magical for them.

I found on my sons Christmas it was so special because I put no pressure on myself to make it perfect, I just enjoyed the simple things like watching Christmas movies on the sofa and cuddles under a blanket, cosy walks and seeing family etc.

I think traditions come naturally and can't be forced.

Mine was almost 5 months old and I spent £150 on some presents for her, ridiculously 😑 She wasn't aware of anything special about it really until she was 3-4.

Our Christmas Tree is a memory tree. My children each chose a new tree decoration every year. It is lovely to hang these at Christmas. They picked ones that fitted their interests so we have everything from fairies, to trains to pets all interspersed with Santas and snowmen. They are both very grown up now but they still remember their "own" baubles.

Well, on my "baby's first Christmas" he was four weeks old, a horrible sleeper, and I spent most of it crying or trying to snatch a few hours of sleep while my MIL rocked him. Even on his second Christmas it really all went way over his head.

Christmas traditions evolve once your child is old enough to understand and you can see what they actually enjoy.

I don’t really remember because I was so sleep deprived! xD we went to some sort of NCT Christmas “party” and I have a cute professional photo of DD in an elf costume which was nice. But most of the actual doing stuff traditions have evolved as she’s gotten older

We always had new pyjamas on christmas eve (i guess now people go one step further with christmas eve boxes etc). You could start that now? It was something we needed anyway and was a clever way of getting 3 overexcited children to bed when we were older!

Honestly I wouldn't bother booking things. DC won't have a clue what's going on and may very well sleep or cry through shows, meeting Santa etc.

Don't buy tonnes of presents either. Let friends and family do that but i would give them a limit otherwise you will be inundated with stuff!

For DD first Christmas last year (she was 3.5 months) DH and I bought her a keepsake gift each and that was it. Dressed her in some Christmassy outfits and had some photos but it was very much a normal day barring a nice roast.

DD was 4 months at hers, we didn't buy lots but we did do things like a stocking in her cot with a few small bits in (mainly from charity shops) and I left a mince pie and carrot out for Santa and his reindeer. We did take her to see Santa but only as there was a free grotto near us, we wouldn't have paid! She liked lights so took her on a walk to see some on Christmas Eve. Family got her a few toys but mostly practical stuff (like a mattress for her cot from PIL). But she mostly enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper 😆

My baby was 5 weeks old at Christmas so we were just getting our heads around having a baby, rather than anything else. Previously we have cooked Christmas dinner from scratch but last year we decided to let Aunt Bessie cook everything, everything was frozen and we just put it in the oven when we wanted. We are going to do this until our DD is a lot older so we can maximise time with her on Christmas Day.

Traditions grow organically and they don’t have to cost a fortune. Just before December we will go to a garden centre and pick a new bauble. We also walk around and look at the lights. We have certain films that we watch on certain days, such as DH will watch muppets Christmas carol on Christmas Eve and sat with DD last year (she was asleep) but he’ll do the same this year. We also have traditions around food, such as my mum also gets me a certain chocolate every year. You don’t need to book things in. DD will be 1 this year but I think we will just do one trip to see Father Christmas as part of a wider day out and that’ll be more for us than her.

My mum always sat and read us The Night Before Christmas, on Christmas Eve when we were growing up. For DS' 1st Christmas, my sister bought him a beautiful personalised edition and we all sat together and read it to him on his first Christmas Eve! He was only about 6 weeks old and fast asleep but it's such a lovely memory for me.

We have a Christmas decoration for each year - she is now 19 & it’s lovely as I know each year. & new pjs for Christmas Eve :)

Weve always kept it simple & im glad we did as some years we’ve been short of money so thankfully we hadn’t committed to expensive traditions that could be missed due to lack of money!

Same with presents Santa brings presents but if that year they have an expensive item that comes from us so it made it fair for other children who may not get say a new bike but again we could be manage the childrens expectations depending on what we could afford.

We've bought a different decoration for the tree for each of our girls Christmas'

Now they're older they love to pop them on in the right order each Christmas then add the newest one - both love the idea that they can take their ornaments for their own homes when they're older. Only the ones from when they were born have the date on, the order they were bought is all based on photos from each year.

It means my tree is definitely not instagram worthy - but it's beautiful because it's full of memories (completely accept I'll have the barest tree imaginable when they leave home!).

At five months old, anything you do will be for your benefit and the photos only TBH. By all means crack on if you want but just don't assume your child will get anything out of it.

Our eldest DC first Christmas wasn't great. He was 9 months old and all three of us were all full of a horrendous cold. His second Christmas he was a toddler and I was pregnant with DC2. We took him to visit Santa at a garden centre. Waiting in line for 45 minutes just for him to scream and cry the entire time he spent with Santa. Vowed to never do it again. By the third Christmas, DC2 was a baby and DC1 was actually at an age to get something out of the Christmas traditions.

Same with presents Santa brings presents but if that year they have an expensive item that comes from us so it made it fair for other children who may not get say a new bike but again we could be manage the children's expectations depending on what we could afford.

We've done this too. Father Christmas brings a token gift and chocolates. Everything else is off us. The Father Christmas gift is normally either something we've told them is impossible to get...or something I'd be dead set against (I'm the fun police) which is why we're living with a 6ft orangutan toy! It kept the magic going until end of primary for eldest because she just couldn't believe we were buying the Father Christmas stuff. Youngest is a lot more cynical, I'm reasonably certain she's playing along so she doesn't miss out.

Oh actually a good Christmas tradition to get into the habit of is not dragging your children around to visit every living relative on Christmas day. As soon as we had the two kids, we started putting our foot down and saying we would not be leaving the house on Christmas day. Best decision ever.

DD was only 3 weeks old at her first Christmas but I still got her some little presents and got her a tree decoration. We get a new one every year. We did that when I was growing up and I loved it (I still buy my Mum one every year).

In our house the stocking is from Father Christmas and then presents from us/whoever has bought her them. We've introduced more things as she's got older (she's 3 now) - leaving a treat out for Father Christmas and the raindeer etc.

Thank you for sharing all of these ideas and memories, I am loving reading them.
I know I'm going to get her a beautiful Christmas blanket for us to snuggle under and hopefully that will be a tradition throughout her childhood maybe even go to live with her when she grows up.

My 1st was 4 months at Christmas. I did personalised first Christmas stocking and bauble, got a beautifully illustrated 'night before christmas' book which we still read every Christmas eve (ds is now 12!) And thats about it! For toys we just bought things we were going to get anyway- jumperoo, walker, pramsuit etc. I always think books are a good thing to buy. We didn't go anywhere other then to visit family. I think ds was about 3 before we started doing santa visits etc.

I think we might have gone to a local pub for Christmas lunch, but might be getting my years mixed up.

DD1 was nine months and had started sleeping properly - but then we went away to family and she was teething and up all night so DH and I were wrecked.

I remember everyone cooing over her but as soon as dinner was on the table everyone lost interest (fair enough!) and I ate dinner with her on my lap, wriggling away.

There's a great free santa in our local shopping centre so we took her there for a photo. Other friends did Santa visits at open farms etc and I thought that was OTT for a baby, but having done the same things in later years and with DD2 as a baby I actually think it could've been a nice day out.

We got a DD's first Christmas tree decoration that still makes me smile.

Other traditions have developed naturally as time has gone on.

DTs were 4 months. For some reason we decided to host christmas, I think it was easier than trying to pack up all the stuff they would need and go to someone elses.

DH and I were completley broken from no sleep, the kids couldn't have given less of a shit about and I was so sleep deprived, I served raw turkey. By the time it was actually cooked everyone was pissed.

Second one was much better and very cute:)

I honestly couldn't remember her first Christmas so I had to look at old photos (she's 8 now)

She wore a xmas knot dress

We flew so she enjoyed an airport meal in a highchair

There is a picture of her wearing a paper hat.

She had a great time by the looks of things. I had horrendous PND and sadly looking at these photos just makes me sad.

Hope you have a lovely Xmas. Don't worry about booking stuff and buying stuff, the important things are all free. Save your money for when they are older and enjoy the baby cuddles.

Couldn't agree more with this! We don't go anywhere on Christmas day. Anyone who wants to can come to us but we are not leaving the house apart from for a walk!

DD was 5 and a half months, so she sat in her high chair and had her first tastes of carrot and broccoli (& pinched a gingerbread off my grandma to suck on).
DS was 3 weeks, we stayed at home, had a COOK frozen dinner and it was lovely, mainly because DD was 2 and a half and really thrilled with her presents.
I understand the urge to create traditions, but honestly, be patient and start small, it gets better and better as they get older.

Every year now the kids decorate a tree decoration (the brown card ones from hobbycraft), and I write their name and the year on the bottom. The year my son was born I got us all matching stockings, so we hang those up together on Christmas Eve and they leave out a snack for Father Christmas. He fills the stocking and leaves one toy each, unwrapped in front of the fireplace. Presents from family and friends are wrapped and under the tree.

I honestly can’t remember.The baby years were a bit of a blur to be honest. Christmas with kids is better when they’re a bit older and you can do fun stuff. We’ve recently started a tradition of going to the theatre on Christmas Eve to see something festive like the Nutcracker, and that’s lovely.