Celebrating Baby's First Christmas

Well, if you're anything like me, you're SUPER excited about creating Christmas traditions with your little ones.  I am so excited to be able to share some of my favorite parts of the holiday season with Mac as he gets older.  I can't wait to see his face light up when he sees his presents from Santa under the tree on Christmas morning.  I can't wait to hear him sing Christmas carols to me while we drive through the neighborhood looking at lights.  I can't wait to bake gingerbread cookies with him, decorate the tree with him and watch It's a Wonderful Life together.  

But all of those things come later.  This year he's a baby.  A baby that can't sing, can't bake and would rather play with a paper bag than any toys he gets from Santa.  What am I supposed to do with a baby that can't do anything?  Actually Parent's Magazine a great list of 17 ways to make baby's first Christmas special that I thought was really good.  I especially liked the idea of hosting a "baby party" (since so many of my friends have little ones this year), putting some decorations in the baby's room and having a "Baby Day" with your little one.

In addition, there are a couple other things I want to do with Mac and a couple things I want to get/do/make to get our Christmas traditions started.  Here's our list...

Stocking
Every kid needs a stocking, of course.  Where else is Santa going to put all that tooth-rotting candy and those little crappy Target dollar-bin gifts that will fall apart immediately and end up in the trash by New Year?  As a kid I used to LOVE hanging up my stocking every year on my own hook.  My stocking had a giant Santa Claus face on it with a few sequins and my name.  It meant the world to me.  

I want Mac to feel that way about his stocking.  Which makes me think...how am I ever going to pick out a stocking for him?  Should I get a "pretty" stocking that I like or a gawdy and colorful one that a kid would love?  How do you ever choose?  Do I get something now that matches my Christmas decor that I like?  Something classy with his name embroidered on it?  Do I just wait and let him pick out his own stocking a few years from now? In that case, am I going to be ok with a Dora/Barney/Elmo/Thomas/SpongeBob (or whatever the cartoon du jour is at that time) stocking?  I don't know...maybe we'll do two different stockings - a "decorative" one that I pick out and then a "kid" one that he picks out.  Do I get matching stockings for the whole family?  In that case, what do I do with the ones we already have?  And what if we have another kid in a few years and I can't find another stocking?  Does that mean I should make my own (like I really have time for that).  FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, I tell ya. 

What are your thoughts on this?  How did you choose your stockings?  Here are couple of my favorites.

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Ornament
Baby's first ornament is definitely an important purchase for me this year.  He may not be getting many gifts, but he'll damn well have a dozen ornaments to celebrate his being alive.  I went back and forth on what kind of ornament I wanted to get.  I wanted something "classic" that wouldn't be dated thirty years from now, when he has his own kids and wants his first ornament for his tree.  Something that wouldn't be super delicate that he might break when he's four and trying to put it on the tree (or that wouldn't shatter if the cat climbed the tree and knocked it over...again).  Something personalized with his name and the year.  However, I must say that I was a little underwhelmed by the "Baby's First Ornament" selection out there.  So many of them are cheesy or tacky.  Maybe I'm being too picky?  I didn't go to many stores (I'm an online shopping kind of girl), maybe I'm missing out.  However, here are a few of my favorites that I found:

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This one says "Grandbaby"

Maybe a cute gift for the grandparents to add to their tree?

Where did you get your baby's first Christmas ornament?

Pajamas
I love the idea of gifting a set of Christmas pajamas every year and having the kid(s) wear matching pj's to open gifts on Christmas morning.  I mean, is there anything cuter than babies in pajamas?!  My kid still wears pajamas all day long every single day.  My husband asked me a few days ago when we were going to start dressing him in real clothes...I have no answer to that.  Never? Here are a few of my favorite Christmas jammies.

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Christmas Photo 
You know me, I'm a photo junkie so this one is MAJORLY important.  I chose to have Mac's holiday photos done by a professional who was offering Christmas mini sessions, which was the perfect opportunity to get a couple cute shots for a Christmas card.  But there are SO many adorable set-ups that you could very easily do yourself (I did some too!).  Grab your camera, some twinkle lights, a baby and you've got yourself a photo shoot!  Here are some of my very favorites from the web.

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Holiday Card 
The perfect place to use that adorable holiday photo you just took!  Or if your baby's brand new and your haven't had a chance to send out a birth announcement, use your Christmas card to do both! There are some seriously gorgeous holiday cards out there these days.  Here are a few of my favorites.

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Photo with Santa
Every kid needs a picture with the local mall Santa Claus.  Older kids love meeting Santa and getting the chance to tell him what they want for Christmas.  But babies?  Yeah, they can't talk...and they don't want anything.  So, a photo of baby on Santa's lap is really for the parents.  And maybe this makes me a bad mama, but I absolutely LOVE it when kids have a meltdown on Santa's lap.  The bigger the tears, the better!  And rightfully so - I can only imagine that meeting Santa is a freaking scary experience to a baby.  Standing in line forever, hearing other babies scream and cry, all that white hair and beard, the bright clothes, the incessant jingle bells, the loud HO HO HOing.  It'd scare the shit out of me.  Secretly I think we all want that funny photo of the kid screaming so we can frame it and torture our children with the story year after year.  Right?

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Craft/Project
Ok, so this one is a bit of a stretch.  Babies can't really "craft."  They can't hold scissors or use glue or basically do anything.  However, they can create some masterpieces with just their tiny little hands, feet, fingers, toes and maybe a little bit of finger paint.  These also make great gifts for the grandparents!  Here are some projects that Mac will be attempting this year.

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So that's my "Baby's First Christmas" roundup.  

Did I forget anything?

Will you be doing any of these things with your little one this year?

***Just for full disclosure (because I don't want you to think I'm that asshole mom that has it all figured out), I have yet to do any of these things, other than get Mac's pictures taken.  No stockings hung, no ornaments made or purchased, no crafts done, no holiday cards shipped, no Santa visit scheduled.  I am NOT on top of things at ALL.  What have I done?  Made a Pinterest board while pounding spiked eggnog and eating Christmas cookies. Cheers!