Share memories of your baby's first Christmas and tips for surviving the festive season with a newborn - £300 voucher prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

As the festive season approaches and we all get a bit nostalgic about Christmases past, Nurofen for Children would love to know what you remember about your baby's first Christmas.

Did you do anything special to mark the occasion? Did having a baby change how you celebrated - or give you an excuse to rekindle some family traditions from your own childhood?

And if you were hosting visitors or travelling to see family and friends, how did you get organised with a newborn in tow? Was there mad mild panic as you tried to pull things together? Or did you hand over the festive stress to others so you could make the most of the special time?

However you spent it, we'd love you to share your fondest memory, and any advice you have for those looking forward to their baby's first Christmas this year.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

The new Mumsnet Baby Bundle app, sponsored by Nurofen for Children, provides parents with a handy toolkit for your child's first years. Information, advice, wisdom and wit are all close to hand - whenever and wherever you need it. Download the app now - tiny.mn/1kCoMoT

Thanks
MNHQ

My son was just 6 months old for his first Christmas - we were definitely more excited than he was! I remember having to feed him his baby rice before we sat down to eat our lovely Christmas Dinner - it seemed so unfair.
Daughter was 10 months old for her first Christmas - much better timing. How lovely it was to have the four of us sitting at the table together all eating the same thing!

With dd2 she was almost a month old, the family didn't get her anything as it wasn't needed, but it was lovely to have a lovely warm little bundle to hold on to and was definitely the best present I could have ever wished for.

I was really keen on creating our own traditions once my first was born and insisted we have that first Christmas at our home. It is so much easier when they are tiny to stay home and let other people do the travelling!

Having children makes Christmas so much more magical even when my son was only 2 months old, I guess i got more excited than him! He typically ate and slept through most of the day, thankfully we were at my parents for dinner!

We spent our first Xmas with our new baby at my parents house so they cooked and had all the stress

This will be our first, so looking at this tips are really helpful

Dd born just 3 weeks before Christmas and if I'm honest with you, that time has ended up a bit of a blur! My best tip is prep for Christmas early, shop online and buy part prepped food like peeled and cut veg because the last thing your going to want to do while establishing breat feeding is to be chopping and peeling veg!

our 1st Christmas with my grand-daughter was the same but not the same as any other day as she was only born very late on Christmas Eve but they let her home as they only had skeleton staff.

The 2nd Christmas was so much better as she was interested in everything including the empty paper and boxes and she was as good as gold all day

It's just a matter of getting as much help as you can, and accepting all offers!

Just enjoy it; you only get one 'babies first Christmas' (per child)

My son was nearly a year old by the time his first Christmas came around. He loved the paper everything was wrapped in and discarded the presents! It was a really happy time and we enjoy playing back the video with it on.

My ds was 6 months old and starting to really enjoy his food, he loved his Xmas dinner. We always have lots of family round so there is always someone willing to help out :)

My little girl was 9 months and she had a lovely xmas outfit. We had dinner at home just the 3 of us and she had plenty of soft toys and a little ball pit (which the cat seemed to like)!. I have pics of her in the high chair with a xmas hat on. She really enjoyed her xmas dinner. It was a quiet(ish) xmas but just the way we liked it.

My youngest was due before Christmas but she was going nowhere and in the end was born 4 days after christmas si=o really her first christmas was the year after, quite a hectic time being late and we didnt prepare for a family christmas convinced she would arrive on time but the year after was quite magical and she was so much more aware than she would have been if she arrived on time xx

It is 19 years since our first baby's first Christmas when he was 3.5 months old. Prior to that DH (then DB) and I had always gone to our own families even when we lived together.

After DS was born we decided to have both sets of grandparents with us on Christmas day, I don't really remember much other than being too busy to enjoy it and not enough room around the little table we had borrowed from PILs .

Since then we have always had Christmas at home, just me, DH and DCs as they came along. Our parents would visit on the morning or the night before and it was so much more relaxed not having to worry about others and letting the DC enjoy there presents.

We now live away from the area so no-one lives close enough to visit, as selfish as that is it's great for relaxing - you don't have to get anyone dressed if they don't want, there is paper everywhere and you eat when you are ready. And strangely the other DC are always more interested in what the youngest one has!

First time with a little one around is amazing, such excitement even if they don't really understand it properly.

A long time ago. I don't remember.

A baby's first Christmas is largely for gotten as at 1 year old, much of the celebration will pass it by.

As for surviving, be even more prepared and importantly, allow others to help out with baby. No time to try to be a hero.

First Christmas with my baby was dinner with inlaws so much easier than cooking at home. just take all baby's things with you, sit back and let your friends or relative do you work you probably wont see much of little one as everybody will want their cuddle. The second Christmas however isn't so easy and I would advise not to have a Christmas tree on the floor

My first born was less than 3 weeks old on her first Christmas, didn't stop us going out and spoiling her though. It was a big family affair on her first Christmas with all the extended family visiting over the Christmas period.

We had to move house the week before Christmas when our first born son was 6 weeks old, and I was still recovering from a csection so the timing was awful. We survived though, as you do, and with him only being 6 weeks old he had no idea if the tree looked right or how many presents he had. But for our first Christmas as parents it wasn't how I pictured it, but 6 years down the line it seems a lifetime ago as Christmas now is hectic and crazy and magical and now with 3 boys there are new memories to make and remember.

First Christmas for DD was when she was 8 months old so it was mostly bright wrapping paper that was her amazement... as for workload we just look at it as a busy, special Sunday roast knowing that we have extended time together away from work.

My first christmas with my daughter was pretty painless if i'm honest. She was born November 9th so obviously quite young when we hit christmas, but we had gotten her into a fairly stable feeding and sleeping routine so we only had one, maybe 2 wake up calls in the nights and she was great the rest of the time. Oh, and get the grandparents to sort out christmas dinner, that makes it much easier :P

Baby was fascinated by candlelight and distracted by all the decorations so did not notice all the attention from visiting friends and relatives!

Relax and let everyone look after you while you breastfeed and bond with your beautiful baby! I did not cook the Christmas dinner but helped out when I could! Get your partner to share the chores as much as possible!