Christmas with a newborn

[Tofu35]

I have waited until September to start this thread but I've been trying to figure out how to keep some of the Christmas festivities and cosiness going when we will be parents of a 1 week old baby!

I'm already buying Christmas gifts for my nearest and dearest (thanks to the Christmas bargain threads on MN!) and told our families who we usually visit that we'll probably stay home and figure out what on earth we've gotten ourselves into.

So far my mum has offered to cook some Christmas food for us and drop it round (although she lives an hour away) and she'll probably come in for a cup of tea and a grandchild cuddle. Same with the in-laws.

But, experts of Christmas, what should I be doing to make sure Christmas stays alive among the chaos of new parenthood? Is it buying lots of party food for the freezer? Getting the tinsel and lights out in November so the house is decorated? Only sing the baby Christmas songs while he wears a tiny Santa hat?

I'm joking, but I'm also interested. For those who are going to be new parents, and those who have older December children, what does tiny baby Christmas look like?

My first was two weeks old at Christmas. We went to my sister's, my brother and his partner cooked Christmas dinner and ds1 had a tiny stocking with a couple of things in to satisfy my nephew that Santa hadn't forgotten him. It's a little bit of a blur but we just did the usual stuff and got some sleep where we could.

@Dachshund oh yes that sounds like an expensive month, you must be very organised to get three different events (2 birthdays and Christmas...plus all the Christmas trips) organised! I think when we were first planning to have a baby, I was definitely avoiding having a Christmas baby. But after 2 years of trying to conceive, I got a grip and I'm happy with any time, any day, any month!

@BlackKittyMama lovely news! Hope there are some ideas on the thread that you can use for your own celebrations! It is strange buying for Christmas so early, especially when I'm usually such a last minute shopper, but I know it'll help with managing stress later on. No clue what I want for Christmas though, so focused on the baby this year! Maybe a plate of the food I've not been able to eat for 9 months 😅

My first was born on Christmas Eve and we came home from hospital on Christmas morning.
I had all my presents bought and wrapped by November that year - I have never been so organised! I got a supermarket delivery slot for Christmas week and had my oven cleaned while I was on mat leave which I was glad of. The tree and everything else went up mid December.
Parents, siblings and in laws all did Christmas Day at mine. We had a full Christmas dinner which was mainly cooked from scratch by my mum and sister in my kitchen. I wouldn't have wanted to travel.

My youngest son was a newborn on his first Christmas. I also had another son who was 18 months at the time. My dad and stepmother cooked us Christmas Dinner. They also ate with us which was great which meant we had extra help with our two. Youngest slept the entire day. I remember eating Christmas Dinner with him in my arms. It was a wonderful day and we really enjoyed it

I should mention that my Mum's birthday is on Christmas Day and at the time she lived overseas, so there's no way we were going to begrudge her a first Christmas with her only grandchild 😂
My (very close) cousin was due to give birth the week before Christmas but (you guessed it) baby decided to come on Christmas Day! She tried to carry on as normal and even turned up at her Mum's house for Christmas lunch clearly in labour.....she didn't stay for long though.
So now we've two Christmas Day birthdays to celebrate as well as DS on 13th. It's a very special family time for us 🌟

@thankyouforthesun did the first organised Christmas (everything wrapped by November) create a Christmas habit? Are you still a November wrapper or was that a one off? Hope with all the people round you weren't on host duty (and could sneak off when required!)

@FallHappy1 that is a beautiful memory, being surrounded by loved ones, eating together and having your wee one in your arms.

@IThinkYoullFindIWasHereFirst we should all thank your family for letting us share their special day 😂 so many birthdays! Also can't tell if I'm impressed or shocked that your cousin arrived for Christmas lunch! Hope she got a replay of the food she missed after she left the hospital.

Also! It's a great time of year to have a small baby because there's so much party food around and plenty on telly 😁 Cooking and eating proper meals together in that first week can be tricky, but vegging out with a load of "treat" nibbles watching a load of Christmas specials is IDEAL!

Also, other people tend to have a bit of time off of work, so when they visit you can be a bit choosier about the time. If everyone wants to visit after 17:00 because of work it's not always an ideal time of day for you with the new baby.

Be prepared though, if your family is anything like ours you will end up with at least four terrible Christmas themed outfits for the baby that you would never have chosen, probably don't fit well and you are absolutely obliged to dress them in!

Having a December baby is brilliant 🤩 Congratulations to you x

So many "also"s SORRY! Love Christmas 😂

@Tofu35 only because I now have a birthday to organise on December 24 as well so I can't leave it to the last minute!
And yes they were pretty good. I have trained them over the years to know where the mugs/teabags/dishwasher are so my hosting standard generally is 'make yourself at home' rather than getting them drinks and stuff, and my mum's idea of what to do when you have a newborn is to rock up, change your bedding and hoover the whole house before she would dream of asking for a hold because that's what her mum did.

My Christmas baby is almost 18. She was due on December 10th and arrived three weeks early on Nov 19th!

We had a small potted tree, lots of soft glow fairy lights and lots of gorgeous festive flowers.
We took her to see Father Christmas on her due date 🥰 and out for dinner on Christmas Eve. My parents hosted on Christmas Day (10min drive) and my lovely dad paced the floor with her to let me and DH enjoy a hot meal!

@IThinkYoullFindIWasHereFirst that is a very good point about visiting times, no chance of everyone asking for a weekend cuddle or after 5pm. I am so looking forward to party food season, mmm.

@thankyouforthesun such a good point about letting go of that need to host, they've all made tea in their own homes before- they can do it at mine. My husband is really worried about the place looking messy for folk coming round, but he's going to be told that mess is coming and he needs to be okay with this!

@NoDairyNoProblem another lovely Christmas baby memory! A hot meal and some spare arms to hold the baby, lovely stuff. I think the potted tree might be a good way forward so we can buy early and still have that Christmassy smell (we could get a fake one but I don't know if in the future we'd get use out of it...wouldn't want it to just gather dust or end up on a landfill!).

Ooh that's m&s and John Lewis Christmas pages up. No party food yet, but time to think about how to get the house cosy and start festive nesting 😅

DD was due on the 18th she was born on the 15th I was in hospital for 5 days before this I would get the tree up early op we didn't then had a rush getting it up we just did our normal Christmas but with a baby I actually felt it helped because we were at fils and didn't have to do much

I'm a bit late to the party but this is such a good thread OP im due on the 21st of Dec but have requested a c section so should be the week before. My youngest was born on the 8th Dec and I cooked Christmas dinner for my mum and SIL all while having a newborn a 17 month old and a 4 year old to juggle I look back now and think how did I do that!! Luckily mum DH and SIL all kept the kids entertained but I don't want to do it this year!! It will just be us easy food plenty of snacks brought to me by DH and my oldest who's ten and lots of Christmas tv! I'm more stressed about being organised with food and presents it's not my strong point! The tree will be up on the first or just before anyway. Good luck to you all have a lovely Christmas with your babies!!

Yeah, I thought this too. Such is the way of new parents thinking they can plan everything. Maybe they'll be lucky and the baby will abide by it's scheduled dates 😆

@Moomoo2o22 haha yes definitely focused on all things edible and wrappable more than the impending birth at this stage. Maybe I'll call the baby Pibs (pigs in blankets) to keep to my priorities :)

Oh wow you are a superhero for getting the Christmas dinner on the table with all those other responsibilities and conflicting demands! I hope the Christmas TV schedule is kind to us all

So I’m the biggest Christmas fan going. We go crazy, tree up first weekend of December, all the palaver. I was due my second on 21st December last year.

It was horrific but mainly because I had to function fully for the four year old 😞

My advice is to take it easy, make no plans, don’t count this as babies first Christmas. But enjoy every moment, sleep when you can and make sure everyone runs around after you while you look after baby!

Another tip is to load up on second hand baby clothes! 😍

"don’t count this as babies first Christmas"

What?! That's bizarre. Which future Christmas do you skip to catch up?

We bought our tree the day before I gave birth and an old lady revved her engine at me as she wanted the parking space next to our car. I was being too slow waddling out the way!
Our baby was ten days old. We got M and S food but actually it was a hassle working out all the cooking times/oven/microwave space. I’d maybe get an M and S turkey crown and roast potatoes but just boil your own veg.

We just had a normal Xmas day ?!
xmas tree went up at beginning of Dec as normal
family came round for dinner which I cooked
Baby either slept or family cuddled

on top of this we have a farm so were out in the morning and evening seeing to animals - baby either in a sling or pram

just carry on as normal!

My DD was born exactly a week before Christmas Eve and I was so worried it might take away from Christmas but it actually added to it and still does every year.
We also have a DS who is 20 months older so wanted to keep it special for him. Christmas Eve we took a walk down the road and got Christmas hot chocolates, then had pizzas delivered when DS had gone to bed.
Christmas Day we went over to my mums and I literally sat on the sofa with the baby, only moving to the dinner table for Christmas dinner and then back again. I was waited on hand and foot!
We were in that lovely new baby bubble the whole time and I look back on that Christmas with such fond memories.

Ours was 2 weeks at their first Christmas. I did all present shopping in sept/oct. All presents were wrapped by Nov. Decs up early. Lots of freezer stuff in. We invited both sets of DPs for Xmas dinner. Some would call us mad but It meant they got to see their grandchild on their first Christmas. I literally got away with doing nothing. Everyone else cooked, held the baby, changed the baby, tidied up - it was great. MIL sent me to bed for the afternoon whilst they did everything else. It was great - I caught up on some much needed rest!

@ShesThunderstorms that sounds like a lovely memory for you and your family, especially those Christmas Eve pizzas 🥰 so nice to hear about the baby bubble and being waited on all day but other people, sounds very cosy.

@Ickiness the BBC must be knocking on your door asking for the rights to film your Christmas routine! Farming duties, full family round, the dinner and the tree up! What a busy day but sounds full of love. Or maybe they'd do an adaption, who would you like to play you?

@Montague22 Christmas road rage towards a waddling pregnant woman should be a jailable offence! I hope all the pine needles from her tree ended up in her socks for weeks.

@ChickinMarango aaaaaw look at that wee squishy Santa! I am such a last minute Christmas buyer, I love watching the films, eating the food but the tree and things are last minute purchases. This year I'm turning over a new bauble :)

I didn’t mean it to sound condescending - just don’t over think it and carry on as normal !
newborns are super easy , it’s toddlers that make it much more difficult! 🤣

@savemeagin your post snuck in when I was replying to everyone! But you've been spotted now. Your first Christmas sounds like a military operation with everyone lending a hand and giving you a chance to rest (and hopefully waking you up to a hot plate of something or a cold glass of something else?).

Again it's so lovely to hear different memories of christmasses and how much love there is going around. Now the nights are getting darker, and it's not 30 degrees outside, it's a nice thread to read back and think about all these stories.