Planning for a Holiday Baby
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Today’s post is from Lauren Hill, the Mama in Mama’s Laundry Talk. We are so much on the same wavelength. I love reading what she writes. Today she shares how she’s preparing for a new baby at the holidays. I can so relate since two FishBabies were born in November. It’s a wonderful time to have a baby, especially when you plan ahead.
I have never had the pleasure of having a “Holiday Baby” – one that comes right around the Thanksgiving/Christmas Holidays. My other three children have birthdays in March and April. Having a baby so close to Thanksgiving and Christmas makes me realize that things are going to be a little different for us this year.
My Baby #4 is due on November 18th, and as you all know that means he/she could arrive a few weeks early, or even into December. Even though it is just July, I’ve given a lot of thought to what our Thanksgiving/Christmas Season may look like this year with a new baby to swoon over. And what I would like for it to look like.
Thinking Ahead
My biggest goal this Thanksgiving and Christmas Season? For it to be simple and peaceful. No running around at the last minute, no fighting crowds and minimal anxiety to “get it all done.” As with any newborn, I want to cherish this time when they are little and soak it in to my core. Those newborn days are so fleeting and I don’t want to miss them because I’m worried about other things like shopping and baking.
Setting Goals
So I’ve mapped out my Master Plan of having a peaceful holiday season. Here’s what I’m planning:
All of my Christmas Gifts are going to be purchased by November 1st.
I will tolerate no excuses from myself, as I am determined to have this hefty item checked off of my to-do list by November 1. The thoughts of going shopping in those post-partum days instead of snuggling with a new little one are not happy thoughts for this Mama. My goal is to have my complete Christmas List made by August 15th and start quickly thereafter to check them off. This list includes everyone we buy for: family, friends, teachers, etc.
All of my Christmas Cards will be signed, addressed and stamped, also by November 1st.
We don’t send nearly as many cards as we used to, so this task shouldn’t take terribly long. Because I bought Christmas Cards at an After-Christmas Sale last year, I’ve already got what I need and can get started any time.
I’m going to stock our freezer with at least 30 meals.
That sounds a little daunting to a very pregnant mom-to-be, but I know what a tremendous blessing it is to walk to the freezer and pull out dinner. Especially when you are in the last days of pregnancy or enjoying a new little one. People are very willing to bring meals to a new mom, but not so eager during the holidays since schedules are always more hectic. So I plan for my freezer to be fully stocked going into the Thanksgiving Season. This includes a couple of quick breads and batches of cookies for us to enjoy since I doubt I’ll be up for much baking.
We are staying home this year.
We typically do quite a bit of in-state traveling during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Being with my family is truly one of the highlights of the Season for me. But this year, my husband and I have decided to stay home. Being in our own home is the ultimate peacefulness to me. Traveling with 4 small children? Not so much. Hopefully some family will visit us!
Remembering The WHY
I’m going to focus on the Real reason of Christmas.
Whether you have a new baby or not during the Christmas Season, it is so easy to lose sight of the Real reason we celebrate this time of year. Between shopping and crowds and all of the hubbub associated with that, it’s easy to believe that gift giving is why we celebrate. My family celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ during the Holiday Season, and I don’t want to dare lose sight of that this year. He is The Gift I am most grateful for. While I am cherishing the baby days, my prayer is for Him to be ever present on my mind.
Are you having a Holiday Baby? How are you preparing?
Are you utilizing Amazon Prime shipping and ordering only online? Are you skipping the formal Christmas pictures this year? Are you freezer cooking your entire Thanksgiving meal? Have you thought about creating a to-do list?
Share your ideas on preparing for a Holiday Baby.
We can’t wait to hear how you’re planning ahead this year! See you in the comments.
— Lauren Hill is the ‘Mama’ behind Mama’s Laundry Talk. She is so grateful for the opportunity to have a Holiday Baby and cannot wait to meet him or her!
My first 2 were mid- to late November babies and I’m now hoping that my third will come before Christmas (due Jan. 4). From my experience, your list is spot on! I’m currently putting the finishing touches on my Christmas shopping (And yes, free shipping with Amazon Prime is one of my favorite things, along with WalMart’s free site to store!) Next, I’m gonna attempt a few more freezer meals.
My current conundrum is whether to wait for the baby to be born and do combination Christmas cards/ birth announcements (free from Shutterfly!) or go ahead and do regular Christmas cards.
I posted a reply above about doing birth announcement/Christmas card combo with premade computer address labels!
I am also doing the following: We don’t travel for the holidays anyway because my husband is a retail manager. Our family members live 3 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 1/2 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours (in 2 different directions) away! Some years my parents visit; most years it is just us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. (My parents are the only ones on either side of the family that have figured out that DH must absolutely work Black Friday, Christmas Eve, and Dec. 26—every year, everyone else asks us what we are doing and who we are visiting and why don’t we visit them, but never take up our offer to visit us since we cannot go anywhere? “Oh, that’s too bad he can’t just ask for it off!”–argghh–sidenote!!). So at least not traveling will be status quo–I usually do a turkey breast in the crock pot with wild rice and craisins, easy enough to do even with a newborn! Then we also do stuffing, green beans, etc. but that can be modified.
Because all of the family is scattered throughout the Eastern seaboard, we usually have to mail most of our gifts anyway. We usually see my parents at some point in Dec. (they are the closest — 3 hours) but everyone else usually gets mailed. I normally try to pick up what I can here and there throughout the year and will go ahead and wrap it and deliver it to family members that I feel are responsible enough to remember where it is at Christmas when I see them earlier in the year—a few select individuals are worth just paying postage on later!! We end up filling in what we don’t already have with on-line purchases in Nov. since we have to pay shipping anyway (so when I can score free shipping on line it is better than me buying it at a store and paying to ship it at the PO). So I may start the online stuff earlier this year and just tell people they will have to save it until Christmas and not lose it because we understandably will be preoccupied! I am also going to wrap up and box up what I have gathered that needs to be mailed and have it addressed and ready so all it will take is an off hours run to the machine at the PO–when there is not line–ha, ha!
We keep things pretty simple even on regular years so I don’t think this will be too much. Our 3 year old gets 3 gifts from Santa (and 500 million from relatives). He gets 3 from Santa since Jesus got three gifts. Last year he got a $40 tricycle, a sippy cup, and a box of books (one of the 3 gifts will always be a basket of books–last year, Santa literally wrapped the books in the barnes and noble box-that was the basket). So this year he has already decided with no input from us that he is getting a big bike and that he will need a helmet — so I guess it will be a bike, a helmet, and a box/basket of books. Keeping things simple helps even on the regular years. I guess I will have to stuff his stocking. Last year the sippy cup took up most of it! I’m thiniking play dough, crayons, again, simple!
My baby is due December 22nd! I’ve been mulling over a lot of this. There will definitely be very little done in terms of holiday cooking! I don’t even know if we’ll be able to travel for Thanksgiving.
My daughter was born on October 27, and I had ALL of our Christmas stuff done before then, too! It is a big help.
My son was born 4 days before Chistmas – so let me preface with this: If you have family from out of town, please make it clear they have to be willing to help/be self sufficient or please wait. I had to host and take care of 5 additional adults right after a c-section!
My simple advice? Plan for a quiet holiday. And think about what’s most important to you: your baby, your health and your faith traditions.
My first child was born 2 weeks after Christmas. So while very preggo and preparing for Christmas I decided that fancy wrapping jobs were out of the question….I could hardly put on my own underwear! I put every gift (and I mean every one) in a gift bag. I used every gift bag I had and even bought a few plan ones at the end. It was so much easier to drop things in bags than to try and wrap it all. Now that our second child is due to be here 3 days after Thanksgiving and I’ll be having another c-section, I know that I will be using gift bags again this year!
i’m so glad to read about this! my second is due in november and i’ve been shopping up a storm this summer trying to get everything ready for christmas. i’ve found a lot of really awesome sales, and have almost all of my shopping done. just a few more things to get. i want to have everything bought and wrapped by the first of november, and have the decorations up a little after that. i’m also planning on sending out christmas cards that double as birth announcements. freezer meals are a great idea. i don’t know if i can do as many as 30 (!) but hopefully i can find some time to get at least 10 or so done. plus i have to decorate the nursery and make my oldest a “big girl room.” so much to think about and so little time to get it all done!
I am having a c-section around December 10th. I have 2 other children born in December—16th and 29th and one child born November (15th). Knowing exactly when I (should) be having the baby helps a lot with planning.
My game plan—-ALL birthday gifts for Nov. and Dec. and ALL Christmas gifts are to be bought by Nov 1st. Dec. birthdays are going to be family only (those who live in the house plus my Mom).
I plan to keep things as easy as possible.
This is definitely a timely post for me. I’ve been trying to think about what all I need to do in preparation for our 5th child, due 12/31. I most likely won’t have a baby before Christmas, but I certainly won’t be traveling. I also don’t want to do any last minute Christmas shopping. I just thought about the Christmas tree.