Let's talk Christmas

[LisaG]

For those of you that aren't christian, what do you do with xmas to make it special and avoid turning it into a gifting feeding frenzy? It's dd's 1st xmas and everyone keeps telling me "oh, you must be so excited for Natalie's first xmas!". She's 7 months, she'd be thrilled if I let her eat wrapping paper, but other than that........ What I'm excited and thrilled about is she's finally here

I can see having fun making cookies & going to see the lights (she'd probably like that this year) & some gifts next year, but this year I'm kind of at a loss.

[Kelly1101]

I'm not Christian, but my family is WAY into Christmas. We'll be heading down there tomorrow morning, and it's a lot of Dinners/Breakfasts/Get-togethers with all branches of my family.

I didn't get anything for Em (and me and my husband don't get presents for each other except one small under-10-dollar thing). I know that she'll be bombared since she's the only grandchild and great-grandchild. But yeah, I think the most fun will be letting her pull off wrapping paper.

[blumooned]

I see Christmas as a time to get together with family & friends. Yes, we do this other times of the year and yes, Christmas comes with gifts, but I try to focus more on the family togetherness. This is our baby's first Christmas too &, like you, I don't really see the big deal about this one being the special one. (I too am just so happy to have him here!) I know DS will be completely oblivious to the reason everyone is together, but he will enjoy it anyway.
I guess I just see this year as a warm-up for all the fun & traditions he'll enjoy next year. In my family I think we look forward to the food (baking, feasting, etc) more than the gifts!

[allical1284]

Originally Posted by blumooned

I see Christmas as a time to get together with family & friends. Yes, we do this other times of the year and yes, Christmas comes with gifts, but I try to focus more on the family togetherness. This is our baby's first Christmas too &, like you, I don't really see the big deal about this one being the special one. (I too am just so happy to have him here!) I know DS will be completely oblivious to the reason everyone is together, but he will enjoy it anyway.
I guess I just see this year as a warm-up for all the fun & traditions he'll enjoy next year. In my family I think we look forward to the food (baking, feasting, etc) more than the gifts!

This. Exactly.

[sunshynbaby]

We don't celebrate so it is generally just another day for us. We do go to family parties on Christmas eve but don't exchange gifts. We had a tradition of going to the movies on Christmas day. I don't think we'll do that this year with a four month old, but we might start that back up in a couple years

[Encinalien]

It's the only day all year that the whole world takes a day off.

[Erinz]

We've struggled with this since before our first son was born. This year we decided to do all the fun festive stuff on the Solstice and really celebrate the season of things instead of the spenditure of things. We still have to make the rounds (for sake of family peace) on Christmas, but knowing OUR family fun centers around food and being together and playing games makes the rest of it a whole lot easier to digest.