Baby’s First Christmas
As a mother-to-be you can’t but help let your days become consumed with “baby firsts”. Baby’s first smile, baby’s first word, baby’s first birthday, etc. When I was pregnant with my son, I found that the most exciting scenario to imagine was baby’s first Christmas. I imagined the perfectly decorated tree, the baby dressed in his Christmas clothes, singing carols, and watching with heartfelt joy as he opened his gifts one by one. I must say… baby’s first Christmas was NOTHING like that.
The beautifully decorated tree actually only had ornaments on the upper part of the tree so that my son would stop pulling (and breaking) the ones he could reach. The perfect baby outfit got spit-up on about ten minutes into wearing it. The caroling? I’m not even going there. And yes, the beautiful scene I imagined as he opened one gift at a time, well let’s just say he opened one with my help and threw a fit when I tried to get him to open another. He preferred to play with the wrapping paper from that one gift for the rest of the morning.
Was it perfect? No! Was it priceless? Absolutely! I would never change anything that happened on that day because it is still a precious memory to me. However, if I had another child I would do things a little differently the next time around. Listed below are a few pieces of wisdom (if you could call it that) that I’d like to impart to other parents. These tidbits may save you some time, quite a bit of hassle, and a whole lot of money.
- Parents whose children are newborns around Christmas time should absolutely go ‘all out’ in the decorating department. Newborns are too young to be as destructive as older children can be. If you’re child is older, take it easy with the beautiful and breakable trinkets. Your tree will thank you!
- Don’t be disappointed if your child is more interested in the wrapping paper than the gift. Seven month-olds and even 1 year olds do not grasp the art of gift receiving just yet. I remember my son opened up his first gift and was so mesmerized by the graphics on the toy box that he just sat there and studied it for hours. We still have the cover for him to look at time to time.
- Because your child isn’t in their “I want this and that” stage, save your money. Buy what you need instead of what trendy and expensive new toys that are available for that year. Wrap up those diapers and formula and he or she will never know the difference!
- Take pictures!! You would think that this tip is a given but that very first Christmas morning goes so fast ad sometimes it’s hard to handle your child, help open gifts, and take pictures of this exciting event. So be sure you have your camera ready before you begin any of the morning’s festivities.
Now don’t get me wrong… baby’s first Christmas is a beautiful experience no matter how it plays out. But with these tips it will surely be a less hectic one than mine.
