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

It bought all my happy childhood memories of xmas flooding back when it was my daughters first xmas. getting through the festive season was easy as she was a month old and was a very good sleeper.

My DS was 23 days old so it was a blur for me. Luckily I spent it at my mums

Being a January baby, he was almost 1yr old on his first xmas. I took him to the shopping mall to meet santa and he didn't want anything to do with him. Cried his eyes out til we got out of the grotto. He soon cheered up outside and had a great time with all the animals outside the grotto, and in particular a polar bear which he kept cuddling and kissing and having a really good chuckle.

I had two babies born in December. My tips are. Be organised. Shop online and get everything delivered. Come Christmas day sit down and enjoy your baby and let everyone run round after you. x

DD was 9 months old on her first Christmas and we decided to go to grandparents for Christmas lunch after the morning at home. That was a great idea and I was able to relax and enjoy.
Even though she was so little I put out a drink for santa and hung up a sticking and remember getting quite emotional as it was not only her first Christmas, but my first Christmas as a mum.
We got her a rocking horse and her face in the morning when she saw it was a picture. Less successful was the stocking which I had spent ages choosing, wrapping and filling. It somehow never occurred to me that she wouldn't be able to undo them herself!
Christmas lunch was lovely and I have a fantastic photo of her sat asleep after lunch on the sofa with her paper hat over one eye.
My tips - you only get one first Christmas with your child. Keep it simple and enjoy the memories. Give one main present and if you are going to do a stocking keep it small and unwrapped! If it's for your sake then just put a couple of small toys in and if it's for an older siblings benefit (santa can't bring the baby nothing!) then bulk it out with practical things - winter hat, cup, teethers etc
And take lots of photos!

My DD was 6 weeks old get first Christmas. My boss had a lovely Christmas get together in her house a few days before for all my colleagues. I was on maternity leave but still invited and had to take DD as she was ebf. We are all midwives so she was passed around and looked after all evening by people I could really trust and just returned to me if she needed feeding, I had a lovely relaxed evening and she especially enjoyed the song song around the piano

Our first Christmas was spent in The neonatal unit as DS was born prem. sounds awful, but the staff made it so special! They put mini stockings at the end of each crib with treats for mum and a cuddly toy for baby and a brass band even came and played carols, it was pretty amazing!

Best bit of that festive season was DS being released on NYE and all the family coming round to coo at him. Brilliant way to start a new year!

My DS was 3 weeks old on his first Christmas and we were so besotted with him we left all our Christmas shopping until the last minute.

Gifts were bought online and were still arriving on Christmas eve and quickly had to be wrapped and delivered. It was a bit chaotic but nobody seemed to mind

There will usually be more people around to help and who would live to have some time with the baby, so make sure to take time for yourself while you can! Video and photograph as the years go by so fast.

my son was 6months old for his first christmas. we went all out with the decorations and presents.
One piece of advice i would give, is dont go mad with a baby, as they have no idea what is going on, they wouldnt care if they got one thing, so save yourself some money and dont buy lots

It was all very low key - she had a few presents we helped her open, then she happily played with the toys and scoffed her first Christmas lunch. She was 11 months.

Don't worry about cooking a christmas dinner. If you have to do it buy ready made things like the 'Aunt Bessie' range to cut down on time in the kitchen and therefore time away from baby.

DD's first Christmas was the happiest day of my life only slightly exaggerating until 16th February the following year. It was the first time since she was born that she only woke up once during the night (16th February was the first time she ever slept through).
I don't know why she did it that night, but it made Christmas morning so much more relaxed. I basically lazed around all day as DD was breastfeeding a lot and let everyone else wait on me hand and foot.
My only tip for having a newborn at Christmas is be relaxed about it and don't go crazy with presents. Everybody tells you that and they are right! We wrapped presents for DD on Christmas Eve, only to unwrap them ourselves over the following few days. What a pointless exercise (but it was still lovely).

My son was premature and was still very small at Christmas so we went to my parents for Christmas Dinner

Our DD was 9 months by Christmas, she loved the wrapping paper and had a fisher price safari train that moved around. She loved crawling after it.
She ate her dinner and had lots of cuddles with all the family. And when she finally flagged for a nap, I took her and snuggled on our bed for an hour. It was just a lovely special time.

Our first Christmas with DS1, we travelled down to my DPs', I remember my stepdad telling me to hurry up and get up to open presents, I was bfing at the time! DS was 3 months, he had a pile of presents from the DGPs bigger than him! He looked completely overwhelmed. My top tip is to stay with someone else!

My Ds was nearly 9 months old for his first Christmas. I loved watching his wee face when we switched the tree lights on. His grandparents came for Christmas Dinner and we watched him attempt to open some presents (took a while and he mainly loved ripping open the paper) He ate the same as us, albeit a little less and even had his first taste of Christmas Pudding. I now know that all that food was probably a little rich for him and the eventual poonamie was a sight to behold, proper explosion. That said, when it happened, Pils decided to wish us a hasty Merry Christmas and leave. We then snuggled up on the sofa with our wee boy snoring loudly between us and watched some festive TV with a glass of fizz.

My son was born at the end of November so he was only just over 3 weeks old on his first Xmas the was a magical day even though he slept through most of it! We opened presents with him watching although he wouldn't have had a clue what it was still felt magical

My Ds1 was 5 weeks old for his first Christmas. I remember taking him to the Christmas Eve service at church in a sling and crying at the 'bless all the dear children' line in Away in a Manger.

On Christmas Day we were due to go over to my brother's house in the afternoon but we all fell asleep so we were very late. It was lovely though...holing up in our own little house with our newborn.

Advice I'd give...don't race around visiting trying to please other people. Make sure you spend time enjoying precious moments with your new family too.

As very young children are not aware of the Christmas gift thing, we didn't spend money on presents. We just enjoyed the festive time with our new baby. If you can get invited to relatives, it will save a lot of stress of having to buy and prepare food.

favourite memory was my DS (7 months) meeting my nephews who are all 6'5" and over - he had this look on his face that he'd landed in a world of giants, after sleeping in the car on their way to the house.

My son was born a couple of days before Christmas and we got home from the hospital together on Christmas eve. I enlisted my MIL to make Christmas lunch - which she did brilliantly. The only thing is you can get really inundated with visitors when you have a new baby at Chirstmas and everyone can be rather loud and jolly. My advice is to greet them all warmly then leave them to coo over the baby whilst you sneak off for a soak in the bath or a catnap.

We had just moved into our first home 2 days before Christmas with our 10 week old baby. So things were hectic but enjoyable. We had the family visit in the morning then had our 1st Christmas dinner at home as a family so it was very chilled once .

Plan and prepare as much as possible before the Day.

I loved seeing the paper ripped off and then being played with while the prsents were pushed to one side.

DS was 10 months his first christmas. He was spoilt rotten by all family members including ourselves. I think the first christmas is one of the most special. But the most special is probably the year they realise they have presents to look forward to.