Prepping for Dec Celebrations

[littlelion]

I know we're all knee deep (or chest?) in preparing for baby's arrival in December.  But I was curious as to what other preparations you're making for special occasions.

1. Christmas/Hanukkah- How are you handling preparing for these holidays?  Such as gifts, dinners, traditions, etc? 
2. Birthdays- I see some of us STM's have LO's with a birthday in December.  Are you planning to celebrate then or before? Or not at all? 

[littlelion]

1. I have a Christmas list already with possible presents for the people that I want to get gifts for.  If I had the money now, I'd be buying all the stuff, wrapping it up and storing it away for the big day. We typically do a grab bag for the adults in my immediate family.  But do the name picking at Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping we can do it by Halloween so I can know what else I need to buy.  

I'm not sure who is hosting Christmas this year.  The sister who usually does it said she may be traveling this year. I'd like to have our own little christmas celebration. Still trying to think of what that can be...once baby is here I'm sure I won't have the energy to plan or care. 

2. DS turns 2 yo Dec 1st, when my csect is scheduled.  Right now, I plan to throw a little party early November.  Ideally, would do it in a restaurant and invite just immediate family and godparents. This is the tough part of bdays in December.  I have to think of double the presents, one for his bday and one for Christmas. All I have in mind are some clothes.  DH can buy him a toy or something. 


        

[kaydee0402]

I've started Christmas shopping so it's all done by December 1. There will be no last minute shopping this year. I've also started planning menus so I can buy ahead some ingredients and make and freeze what I can.

We always go to my sister's Christmas Eve after mass for a bit, but we do the holidays at home.

I don't know. Since we're doing a scheduled c-section, I'm not counting on everything getting too hectic because we can plan. I'll also probably have my last day at work be a couple days before I go in so I can send DS to daycare and do what I need to do in peace and quiet.

[mrsp121308]

1. Since I'm due at the beginning of December, the only holiday that might be impacted is thanksgiving. However, I am planning to start gift shopping in October so I don't have to do a ton while massively pregnant or with a newborn. We are planning to still go to most holiday get-togethers, but might back out of some that are really large extended family. We'll just play it by ear.

[WineNChocolate]

1. Halloween? lol we include Halloween because we love it. I have already started decorating I will be putting out the outside stuff probably this weekend maybe when we get back from my brothers wedding. I have to order DDs costume this week and then get mine together as well. We will be participating in the town trick or treating and going to a Halloween event that is held at Ford. Halloween we spend at my husband's bosses house, who is a fanatic over Halloween and goes all out. We don't get a ton of trick or treaters.

2. Thanksgiving/Christmas? - So We are going to buffalo for thanksgiving and my MIL does the turkey and I do all the sides, so I am planning on still pulling that off. I stick to the things I know and won't get creative like years past. CHRISTMAS: I am still putting up all my Christmas decorations, game plan is still to get a real tree and put up our fake one down stairs. I have been getting Christmas PJs ordered for Christmas eve already. I started DD's amazon Christmas list for family. This year I am doing gifts for families and friends, so I am making peppermint scrub and hot chocolate jars. I MIGHT do cookies this year. I sometimes like to throw those in the baskets. OH and then there is me adding to my Christmas decorations..I add every year. I buy more things and my husband gets more annoyed. LOL.

littlelion, omg I just realized DECEMBER 1ST!! HOLY SMOKES WOMAN. That is so close and DS is going to have a bday on the same day. hahah that is going to be a blast. Two birthdays one day, decorate once but buy double gifts.

[Deleted]

1. Christmas/Hanukkah- How are you handling preparing for these holidays? Such as gifts, dinners, traditions, etc? I'm decorating but that's about it this year since I'm due on the 23rd. We already told people we're not doing presents for anyone this year. We're giving them a grandkid, that's present enough. Also I'm hoping to work up until my due date so I don't want any added extra stress. For Thanksgiving I told DH, I'm more than willing to host since he'd be the turkey guy anyway and making some sides shouldn't over exert me and if people want to come they can come, but I'm not about to drive 3+ hours to go to other people's houses.

[tbonequeen13]

1)We do Christmas even with DH's family (sometimes- long story but they don't always choose to spend the holidays with their son) and Christmas day with my family. We don't have extended families locally, it's just our parents and my sister, so we'll try to do those as normal assuming I feel up to it (I did it 4 and 5 days post partum with DD). We may or may not go to Christmas Eve service at church - it just depends on what kind of baby DD2 is and what the weather's like- but if we go, I'll baby wear to keep hands off. As usual, I plan to do my shopping mostly online (I hate crowds)

2)Planning DD's party is giving me fits. Her birthday is 1-2 days after my due date. I don't want to plan it the weekend before her birthday b/c I could go early. Unfortunately, the weekend after her birthday is Christmas Eve and the weekend after that is New Year's Eve so that possibly means pushing it back 2 weeks, which I'm not really ok with either...so in short, I have no idea what we're going to do. Maybe the Friday after her birthday, the 23rd, in the evening, but I don't really want to take a newborn to Chuck E Cheese...

[littlelion]

WineNChocolate, yes! thanks for the reminder! I definitely want to decorate for all the holidays.  Sorting thru my decorations will be on my to-do asap.  DH is an awesome help getting them up and down but he really would rather not do any outdoor decorations. I also have tons of Christmas stuff and the year DS was born, he only brought up a few.  I need to find the inflatable snowman, DS would get a kick out of that. 

I also have a tradition to bake Christmas cookies with my nieces and nephews so I should take stock of what I have.  Last year I was caught off guard without one of the icing ingredients. And now that DS is old enough to participate and enjoy all these traditions, I am doubly excited to make sure we're ready. 

[lola]

My husband's family (FIL, MIL, SIL and her husband) are all coming to stay for a week, the week before Thanksgiving. We'll do the Thanksgiving celebration then, but I've already said I won't be cooking. That's up to everyone else. My SIL is also pregnant, due in February, so it should be interesting. I'm not entirely thrilled to be having house guests for an entire week, but I'll also be working so hopefully it will be less stressful for me becuase I'll be out of the house.

The week of Thanksgiving, we'll decorate for Christmas and celebrate, just the two of us. We're staying put because my family is 4 hours away, and I'm not driving that far with less than a month to go. If they want to see us, they can come visit.

For Christmas, I've already started shopping, but I cut the list down to essential people. I've already told everyone we're not coming to any of the family celebrations (again, 4 hour drive each way), so I'm not buying gifts for extended family. Being due 12/15, we'll likely have a baby that's less than two weeks old. People can come to us if they want to, and stay in a hotel.

WineNChocolate, Where do you get your PJs? I want to get some, but I'm having trouble. Do you do just the kiddos or parents too?

[legalbeagle]

Love this thread!

Halloween costume: ordered and arrived. Hopefully DS will still like it a month from now.

Thanksgiving: just our little family here and maaaaybe MIL but she may go see her parents. Kinda hoping for the latter.

Christmas: my parents are coming up to watch DS since our nanny normally takes Christmas week off and I'll be 39 weeks pregnant and have just stopped working. Will probably talk my parents into doing another experience gift again like a play or dinner out with the four of us. I'll order stuff for my niece and nephew. DH and I usually have a spending cap and buy our own gifts -- I got really tired of year-after-year killing myself trying to buy stuff for him and so last year just said "enough." I have an Amazon list for DS's birthday (end of Oct) that can be used for Christmas. We'll have Christmas here too. I'm super psyched that we're not traveling for any holidays this year.

[WineNChocolate]

lola, I usually order them for, DD, DH, Myself, FIL and MIL. We are usually together on Christmas. I have done different places but i got mine this year from a coop. BUT I have done lands end and LL Bean before...but ordered them around cyber Monday NOT full price. Macys has them too..they have 20% off today! I sometimes cheat and get just the PJ pants and then I get T-shirts that I screen print myself with iron on decals lol. OR I just look for a Christmas shirt to put with the pants.

[lola]

Sept 26, 2016 13:08:17 GMT -5 WineNChocolate said:

lola, I usually order them for, DD, DH, Myself, FIL and MIL. We are usually together on Christmas. I have done different places but i got mine this year from a coop. BUT I have done lands end and LL Bean before...but ordered them around cyber Monday NOT full price. Macys has them too..they have 20% off today! I sometimes cheat and get just the PJ pants and then I get T-shirts that I screen print myself with iron on decals lol. OR I just look for a Christmas shirt to put with the pants.

Thanks! I'll check those places. I was looking at Hanna Andersson but wow they are expensive!

[Lucy]

I'll be 37 weeks on Thanksgiving, so I'm not counting on our usual plan of going to my MIL's. She's not happy about it because we bailed on her last year so I could go BF shopping at 3am with my BFF. She lives 3 1/2 hours away with no decent hospital close by -- we'd have to drive to another state to get to the closest good hospital. I'd rather stick semi-close to home than take any chances since I've never made it that far in a pregnancy before.

I'm hoping to be done Christmas shopping by the beginning of December, but I have a feeling Amazon Prime is going to be my best friend this December. And H will be wrapping gifts. I've bought 1 gift so far. I think we're still going to go to my MIL's for Christmas. At this point, it's going to depend on how I feel. If I make it to my scheduled CS date, I'll be 12 days out when we make the long ass drive.

[requiressnacks]

I think I'm going to start Christmas shopping....now.

Oh, and we're pretty much skipping Thanksgiving because we'll likely have babies by then. Christmas will be a toss-up depending on how things are going.

[emilie]

I'm probably going to try to do holiday shopping early so I don't have to get stuck worrying about it in December.

Thanksgiving - we have some family coming to us, not sure if we will host or if our other siblings in town will host. I will be 36 weeks then. If we host I will be asking for a fair amount of help with the cooking

Christmas/Hanukkah - we celebrate both - and Hanukkah falls late this year, starting on Xmas Eve. My due date is Xmas, so my attitude towards hosting guests at my home in late December is "no thank you." We have family in town on both sides that would be willing to host for Xmas and Hanukkah so I don't feel pressure to do anything. We will probably light the menorah and maybe put up a couple garlands, but no tree, no dinners at my house, no thank you.

[kaydee0402]

What about NYE?

Baby will be here by then, so I'm thinking of hosting a sip and see from 3-6, having our really close friends stay for a "party" but kicking everyone out around 9.

**Our group of really close friends consist of three other couples, one of those couples being my sister and her DH. Everyone has kids and one of them will have a newborn, so I don't foresee anyone wanting to stay past 9 anyways.

[Becca]

We normally alternate whose family we spend each holiday with. This year it should be my family for Thanksgiving and DH's family for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is getting skipped this year as if we don't have the twins by then we will be days away. With my family being a few hours away it just won't be feasible. DH is planning on going to the local turkey farm this weekend to get some frozen turkey meals for us to keep on hand to celebrate with just us at least.

Christmas will be a little easier since DH's parents are just 5 miles down the road. I doubt we will do much decorating at our house, but at least I know they will have a tree up. As for gift shopping, like some of you said, we do a name draw around Thanksgiving for both sides of the family, so until I know who we got this year we won't be able to start shopping.  Thank goodness for Amazon and my list of gift ideas I have saved on my phone for everyone I could be shopping for. 

[requiressnacks]

Sept 26, 2016 14:40:26 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

What about NYE?

Baby will be here by then, so I'm thinking of hosting a sip and see from 3-6, having our really close friends stay for a "party" but kicking everyone out around 9.

**Our group of really close friends consist of three other couples, one of those couples being my sister and her DH. Everyone has kids and one of them will have a newborn, so I don't foresee anyone wanting to stay past 9 anyways.

I love the idea of a sip & see. Put out some wine, a few crackers with cheese and you are good to go!  I may do this too.

[kaydee0402]

Sept 26, 2016 15:51:09 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Sept 26, 2016 14:40:26 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

What about NYE?

Baby will be here by then, so I'm thinking of hosting a sip and see from 3-6, having our really close friends stay for a "party" but kicking everyone out around 9.

**Our group of really close friends consist of three other couples, one of those couples being my sister and her DH. Everyone has kids and one of them will have a newborn, so I don't foresee anyone wanting to stay past 9 anyways.

I love the idea of a sip & see. Put out some wine, a few crackers with cheese and you are good to go!  I may do this too.

That's what I'm thinking! We're not doing a shower since we don't need anything, so this will be a fun way to celebrate the new baby without all the fuss.

I want to do it open house style since it's New Years Eve so people can come and go as they please. I just want it to be low key.

[WineNChocolate]

@kc295905, Sorry for the delay.

SOOO My peppermint scrub I make is just: Sugar, coconut oil or Almond oil, peppermint essential oil and for extra moisture some vegetable glycerin. You don't have to put in the vegetable glycerin but it does make it more moisturizing. You would have to order it online its not easily found in stores. But nowadays everything is amazon sooo its really easy to get! Let me know if you want the full recipe! OH and you might want red/green food coloring if you want to make it fancy.

[kaydee0402]

Sept 27, 2016 5:38:16 GMT -5 @kc295905 said:

Sept 26, 2016 21:10:12 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

That's what I'm thinking! We're not doing a shower since we don't need anything, so this will be a fun way to celebrate the new baby without all the fuss.

I want to do it open house style since it's New Years Eve so people can come and go as they please. I just want it to be low key.

I love this idea but DNW more people than necessary around LO during flu season.

I thought about that, but since DH is military, the majority of our friends and their children have gotten the flu shot (it's required), so we should be okay.

[lola]

Sept 27, 2016 10:09:27 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

Sept 27, 2016 5:38:16 GMT -5 @kc295905 said:

I love this idea but DNW more people than necessary around LO during flu season.

I thought about that, but since DH is military, the majority of our friends and their children have gotten the flu shot (it's required), so we should be okay.

I had this same question regarding whooping cough, which is very prevalent in my area. We just may have to wait on opening up the house until we pass that particular milestone.