Making first Christmas special?

[NeitherQuietNorCalm]

My DS will be 10 months at Christmas. We'd planned on spending it with my family, but we can't afford the flights anymore. So it's just the 3 of us and we won't be seeing anyone over the festive season.

How can we make it special and not just like any other day? Our baby is really social and LOVES people. We thought about going out for lunch so he could see some people but it's too expensive. Not really sure what to do to make it feel different. I know he's too young to care, but I do.

A simple close family Christmas sounds perfect & what many people would actually like instead of the all the faff & other people :)

Maybe start some new traditions that you will continue through their childhood? It can be as simple as sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn on Christmas Eve or buying a special bauble to mark your baby's first Christmas?

Is there anyone you can visit if you want to?

No, everyone we know will be with their families out of the city and we don't live near anyone anyway.

Rather than going out for lunch could you pop out to a local pub for a Christmas drink? I used to work in a pub on Christmas Day and it was a brilliant atmosphere and really busy with people popping in at various times to celebrate. I am sure your ds will get lots of attention too!

Failing that you could get wrapped up and go for a walk? Lots of people I know do this on Christmas and Boxing Day to walk off/prepare for all the food!

Lazy breakfast. A walk in the woods/ by sea. Going out after dark to see local lights.

We buy a decoration for each dc every year (they now choose their own) and when they go to uni they can take their decorations with them (or we might just store them until drunken parties start to dwindle!).

Thank you. May pop to the pub then. We live in very urban London so there's not much pretty walking to do sadly!