1st Christmas for 5 month old

[strawberrychewits]

Hello, our dd will be 5 1/2 at Christmas. She is our first and I want to make sure it is special. Did anyone do anything, buy anything, start any traditions or remember to take any specific photos that you really cherish?
Thanks in advance

I made mine both a "Baby's first Christmas" ornament by embroidering a heart and stuffing it. Those baubles never make it! They break after a year or so.

I also think that it's lovely to buy a special tree ornament every year for the baby and as they grow they can start to choose one themselves.

My DDs adore this....and now they're 11 and 7 they have all the memories to the ornaments.

Can I advise with Father Christmas...from the very start...it's a good idea to do one of the following

EITHER...FC brings the stocking fillers and Mummy and Daddy buy the other gifts

OR FC brings one big gift and fills the stocking.

This stops them assuming they can have anything when they're older because you can tell them Mummy and Daddy can't get that.

We bought DD HappyLand and Brio for her first Christmas (4mo) and first birthday. We had a huge stock which we've kept and have just got out the attic for DS (as our 2nd, he will probably get just one new present as he'll only be 6mo and we have loads of hand-me-downs!).

TBH try not to put too much pressure on to make it perfect, it'll only end up spoiling the day. The best photo we have of DD's first birthday is her in her high chair with her face and hair covered in cake! We also have a video of DD helping to put the decorations on the tree (she was toddling then so not her first Christmas). When it's their first, it's easy to feel like you have to capture everything, but as the years go by, you realise there's loads of other (hysterical) moments to capture that are just as good.

Back to presents, PIL bought DD a Welsh woollen blanket for her first birthday, it's single bed sized and she uses it still (6yo). Expensive but a lovely useful gift, I expect she'll use it for years to come. My uncle bought DD a little wooden seat, it's brilliant, looks smart and has lived in our lounge for years. It could have been engraved but hasn't been (which is good as my uncle died very suddenly and now DS can share the seat as it's not obviously DDs).

Our son was 4m last christmas. We bought keepsake items for him off us as we knew he would be getting toys, clothes etc from others. So we got him a certificate(?) with the meaning of his name on. We got him some letters for his wall that spell his name out. We also got him a bookset of the adventure series by Enid Blighton which his Dad read as a boy. I also handmade him a stocking with his name on.

Thank you very much, some really good advice! I hadn't thought about the baubles breaking, fabric is definitely the way to go. Also good advice about photos, I will try not to put too much pressure on it. I love the idea of name letters and a book series. Thanks very much everyone