Christmas 2016

ThePax89

Am I the only one extremely nervous about Christmas this year? Many of us will be 37+ weeks on Christmas...meaning baby could come at any second. 

Tips to survive? 

ThePax89

I have decided that all Christmas shopping and wrapping wil be done by early December. 

Decorations will be super light. Otherwise we will have a Christmas tree in our living room until mid May. 

emy730

We luckily only buy gifts for my nieces and DD, no one else. And we don't put up a tree (our cats climb it and knock it over... more work than it's worth).

I'm more worried about the long days during the holidays. And the multiple get together. They take a ton out of me when I'm not pregnant, I can't imagine how I'll feel being almost ready to give birth.

cjs260

I'm mainly just sad that we won't get to really see any family for Christmas this year. My parents have my siblings (who are still unmarried) to make Christmas happen for, and my MIL and H's grandfather will have to wait to make their visit after the baby is born. I love, love, love Christmas, so I told H that this will just be the year we get to start making Christmas traditions for our own family. Also, my house will be fully decorated for Christmas. I've already told my mom and dad that one of their duties for post-baby visit will be to take down our tree and take it to the basement, haha! 

therealfrizzle

I just had the holiday planning talk with DH this past weekend. We typically have holidays at the IL's house since our condo is too small to accommodate both families, but it's an hour and half away from the hospital. So, we are going to stay at home and bite the bullet for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have a great, low stress plan for meal prepping for Thanksgiving that I do every year anyways, but Christmas is going to be a, "You wanna eat, you better bring it," affair. I'll put up some ornaments and we'll have a small tree, but won't go as crazy as I like unless my family helps out. Already started on Christmas shopping and plan to have things done by December in that department.

ElleMF728

So happy for this thread.  I have no idea what we are going to do but I'm planning to do all my Xmas shopping in October/November.  I'm a last minute shopper so this will be difficult I'm sure.  

My EDD is 12-29 which is worrying me a bit.  DS1 is 3 and its the first year that he is super into the holidays and I don't want to miss a thing with him.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) my OB is anticipating taking baby at 37 weeks so we have a tentative induction date of Dec. 10th for now.  This means baby will be home for 2 weeks or so before the holiday (good) but it also means we will likely be hermits for the Christmas (bad).  I think we might just have the grandparents over for dinner.  Last year we hosted a dinner a few days before and family members came with "allergies".  DS1 ended up with croup for Christmas, both boys had to go to the doctors for breathing treatments (my 5 month old needed to go in several times) and we were all sick until early Feb. I'm not repeating that with a newborn. 

I still plan to decorate the house like crazy.  I want to make it amazing for the other two LOs and it always puts me in a good mood.  DH and I love the holidays so much it doesn't feel like work to us to do the holiday cleaning, cooking, baking etc. plus DS1 is a huge helper now and loves to help with all that stuff. It will be really special for him I hope. 

I am a little nervous after realizing how quickly these things are coming up and how much I have to do in preparation though

LoneStar21416

Basically everything @cjs260 said. We have no family close by and family will make the trip out here post-baby. It makes me sad, but it will be ok. It will definitely be just the two of us for Christmas and I plan to decorate like I normally would! Concur that mom and dad can help us take down decorations when they come out  

mommywesley

DH and I talked already and decided to stay home for Christmas this year. Our families are both very close so it's not super far away, but 9months pregnant and dragging 4 kids around? Not happening. We will continue what we started 2 years ago where we visit my dad the Sunday before Christmas, and my mom spends the night with us on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we have DH mom over, or we try to get to his uncles for his families gathering, but that won't happen this year. 

My family usually gets together the Saturday before Christmas, so we will probably go to that as well, just won't stay as long as we usually do, and my family usually does a Mother Daughter get together in December AND a cousins "Fa la la Party" lol...it will be a crazy month. I'm not sure I'll do all of it, but with all boys the Mother Daughter will actually be a 'night off' for me so...

katesmama0706

We're on rotation for the ILs this year for Christmas, it's only an hour away and my due date is mid Jan so in theory we could make it work. (It's my family's turn for Thanksgiving, but they're 10 hours away so I think we're just gonna go for my grandpa's birthday in October and call it our Thanksgiving) But I'm dreading Christmas. Everyday things with them is stressful and awful and holidays are all that times a million. I'm pretty sure we'll just go on lock down and stay home, avoid all the germs and stress. Possibly until March haha! 
It's our first year in our house and I never had many decorations in our apartments because of space so those small things will probably go up in December and stay up until I get around to them. DD will only be 17 months so I'm not too worried about her missing out on all the traditions. Next year will be lots more fun for everyone anyway!

AlabamaRedhead

Luckily I'm due late January. Our family is about 1.5 hours up the road in a major city and we're planning to do stuff like normal--Christmas Eve Eve with his family and we'll go back up Christmas Day about lunchtime for my family, giving us Christmas Eve to just chill at the house. Also, DH and I are taking time off during the holidays to just chill--something we've never really done. 

TexasGal24

We're staying put for Christmas and may or may not have family around. Not sure if I feel like putting up a tree or not even though I normally LOVE decorating. We moved across the country this year and I gave away my huge box of decorations because we have no storage space in our new apt and I really don't feel like spending money on stuff like that right before the baby comes. 

I feel comfortable traveling for Thanksgiving because I will only be 33 weeks pregnant. We'll be traveling about 5 hours away. 

stumptownmama

I'm excited for Christmas. I'll be around 38 weeks. All our family lives in town. I won't be hosting this year, that's for sure. I plan to get all shopping done early and probably won't go crazy with decorations. Tree will come down day after Christmas. I'm always anxious to put decorations away. I think it will be nice to have DH home for a week before baby comes. We can get any last minute things checked off our list. 

canavara

We hosted Christmas last year (just my mom, great aunt, and his parents) so it was cooking for 6 people total. We live in Indianapolis and his parents live in Louisville and my mom and great aunt about an hour south of us, so I suspect we'll be doing the same again this year--the exception being that I'm guessing his parents will come a day early and help out with cooking

My mom claims I came 2 weeks early, so I'm really, really expecting this guy to make his grand appearance on Christmas day, lol, but I've decided I'm not going to let it stop me from decorating and doing all the normal Christmas stuff. I hadn't even thought about what's going to happen with the Christmas tree though hahahahahaha. Yeah, I guess that's going to be around for a moment or two!

ashanne88

This is my favorite time of year.  This will be our first year not travelling for the holidays and I'm so excited about it.  I love being at my parent's house for Christmas but hate all the driving.  Both our parents are coming up for Thanksgiving and we're going over to my aunt and unlce's house (1.5 hours away).  In-laws are then coming up around Christmas and my family is coming up after.  Full term (38 weeks) for me is Dec 23rd, so there's a chance I will be in the hospital on Christmas.  I'm hoping we'll all be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day though.  DS will be much more aware of the holiday this year and I really want to be able to enjoy it with him and as a family.

My goal is to have all shopping done by the end of October.  I'm making pretty good progress on gifts so far.  I learned quickly that I need to hide everything for DS...he already found some of his clothes and I gave in and just let him have them.  In terms of decorating, I plan on going full out and having my parents help clean-up.

TinaBelcher

Babies will be here by 12/10 or earlier so we'll have 2 preemies at Christmas! 

I'm still decorating because it's my very favorite holiday to decorate for, the lights and yummy scents  this just means I get to put up my tree super early (HA TAKE THAT "only after T-Day" H!!) which is awesome!! We're skipping the big family parties but still going to my dad's Christmas late morning as long as my sisters are not sick. My step sister doesn't vaccinate her 2 year old so I'm skipping mom's Christmas with preemies for sure, and we don't really need much of an excuse to skip MIL's... ::sheepish:: H just isn't very close to them so it's no biggie for us. We'll probably have mom & MIL over a bunch of times through the month so they'll deal. 

azwildcat62

Wow - I must be slacking... I've just been focusing on trying to survive the month of September since it's my busiest time at work and have hardly thought about Christmas.  All our immediate family is here, so we usually make the rounds on Christmas Eve & Day.  I was planning on playing it by ear to see how I'm feeling then.  I'm due 1/6 so a Christmas baby definitely isn't out of the realm of possibilities.  I can't decide if I want the baby in 2016 or 2017... not that I really have a choice in the matter, of course.  

Am I crazy for planning on hosting Thanksgiving this year for about 20 people??  I was thinking it would be easier to host it this year than next with an infant.  We assign people dishes to bring too, so we definitely don't do all the cooking.  I still have 3 out of state weddings to attend before then too - the rest of the year is just going to FLY BY. Definitely pushes me to keep getting stuff done as soon as possible.  Taking it one day at a time and trying not to get too stressed.  Sigh...

JLJ2012

I will be 38+ weeks, but we still plan to do our usual.  We are huge Christmas decorators, inside and outside the house, and plan to do what we normally do.  We always have 2 Christmas trees, a regular one and a kid ornament tree.  I feel like it will be a good distraction while waiting on baby to arrive.  I am not too worried about taking things down.  Even if baby comes while decorations are still up I think it is manageable to do.  I have the kids shopping done already, and several other family taken care of.  I want to be able to take the kids to see the light displays in our area this year and go to some events, so I want all the shopping done early.  My family is close by so travel on Christmas day will be 15 minutes, which is nice.  We are holding off on having extended family come visit this year.  The in laws usually come to stay right around New Years, which is when I am due, so they will have to wait until April.  But that is really our only change this year.

jsl82

I have just begun to really worry about this.  We are due the 8th and I was 2 weeks early- if baby girl decides to be like her mom than I would wake up on Christmas and go to the hospital to give birth.  I'm hoping she is a January baby and not a December baby though, as I also worry about her growing up disliking Christmas.

Luckily this year is my family's turn on the rotation and they are only 1 hour away vs 4 hours to my ILs.  I'm hoping that I can still make it to a few of my family gatherings- especially since my cousin and his wife just had their baby girl yesterday- but I'm not sure if that will happen.  The thought of spending the holidays alone this year really makes me sad.

Kurtni

I'm just excited for Christmas food. although I'll be so big by then I probably won't have room for much and will be miserable and bloated. But still... Ham. 

TinaBelcher

Kurtni said:

I'm just excited for Christmas food. although I'll be so big by then I probably won't have room for much and will be miserable and bloated. But still... Ham. 

Girl YES! I've already asked my stepmom to make double the T-day turkey this year "so I have leftovers frozen" when babies are here.... Orrrrr so I can eat so much (there's never enough!) 

hayhay2501

My family is in America so going there is definitely out of the question from London. DH's parents live in Wales, which is a two hour train journey. I supposed it would be doable but I just don't want to risk it. So it looks like it'll be just DH and I! 

To be honest, I'd rather spend Christmas just the two of us than spend it in Wales dealing with my father in law ha! I wish I could go to America but my family will be flying out in late January/ feb so I'll see them soon after.

sagoon

My son is a December baby, so I went through all this when he was born.  Basically, we are not hosting anything nor travelling to anything more than an hour from the hospital.  If people don't like it, that's too bad, we can do it  next year.

We will be doing the usual tree and decor, but husband will likely be on his own for all the outside lights.  I will help with the tree and assorted indoor stuff.

I have already started shopping!

LastMango

Just the title of this thread gives me anxiety.

I've tried discussing this with H since I'm such a planner and he seems to think everything with happen as normal. Nope. Sorry H. I'm due Jan 5 so traveling out of state the day after Christmas to visit my extended family is out of the question. We usually go to his moms on Christmas Day and I've had to veto that, too. I think we'll end up getting together with my family the week before Christmas and have his mom come down on Christmas Eve for the day. 

DD will be 3 this year and will definitely know what's going on so I want to do it up big for her. I don't plan on slacking on any of our traditions, decor etc. I've already started shopping and hope to be done by November.  Just hoping this baby stays put at least until after Christmas Day. 

karaelaine1991

LO is due in late January, so I'm not very worried about her getting here around Christmas. It could happen, but since I've had a smooth pregnancy so far, I'm not really worried about it... she'd be like 5 or 6 weeks early and if that were the case, Christmas would be the least of my concerns! Even so, we are going to be staying here over Christmas/New Year's simply because I know I'm not going to want to deal with the drive home at that point.  We will be going to my parents' for Thanksgiving and to a cabin weekend with DH's mom the following weekend -we started doing that last year; it's really nice because we're able to celebrate Christmas with his mom and siblings, but we don't HAVE to factor them into our Christmas Day plans. While I am going to miss seeing my family over Christmas, I'm actually really happy that things are going to be working out this way because it means that DH and I will have the opportunity to start our own Christmas traditions, which is something I'm really looking forward to. 

AlabamaRedhead

Kurtni said:

I'm just excited for Christmas food. although I'll be so big by then I probably won't have room for much and will be miserable and bloated. But still... Ham. 

Girl...leggings, big sweaters and big plates. Turkey Day and Christmas...bring on the casseroles! 

Emma61210

I will be 39 weeks on Christmas day! which means we totally could have a baby by then. lol! I am planning on putting up ZERO decor even though I love decorating for Christmas.  I know I would regret it when it comes time to take it down. And I have no idea about christmas shopping.... i'm seriously thinking everyone gets gift cards this year! haha!

As far as family stuff, we only have 1 out of town Christmas 45 min away (prob 1 hour from the hospital), so I will be making a decision about that at a dr's visit and getting her opinion if I am okay to travel an hour away. 

mjschenk

We take turns going to our parents house but Christmas is my family which are within five minutes of my house. Plus being an end of Jan due date I am not to worried but I did veto a five hour drive for thanksgiving turns out my in laws agree and it will be either at my house or an hour away. 
I have a LO so actually Christmas morning is at my house and I am stoked I will be decorated to the hill as usual. And thank heavens for a rockstar DH I would expect it all to be taken down by the first week in January. (It normally is minus outside lights which kinda come down when the weather agrees situation). Can it snow yet I am ready❄️

christac1010

DH and I are both in agreement that traveling is out of the question for Christmas. I'm due 1/3 and even though his family hosts Christmas about two hours away, I don't want to go. We're in Western NY so the weather can change at any moment. I want to stay close to home, but I have no plans to host anything at my house. 

As far as decorations, we disagree. DH wants all the normal decorations up (including fake snow, lights, and ornaments throughout the whole house). I don't know if I'll have the stamina and patience to put everything up or take everything down. I might agree to a scaled down version this year. 

Honestly I just want to watch my favorite Christmas specials and eat food. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I cannot wait!

ETA that I totally want holiday maternity shirts too. Like the stupid "pumpkin smuggler" one. I just love it!

surlyjaneausten

I have been starting to think about this. I love Christmas and we have a huge tree but unless DH plans on being a real go getter, I'll probably just get out small decorations. The most worrisome thing for me was that last year it was Christmas Eve dinner at his aunt's house, Christmas morning at his grandparents, a surprise trip to his parents because his mom "forgot" to bring our gifts over, then back to our house for crockpot soup with my mom. I was exhausted and NOT pregnant. I can't imagine doing the same, so we're going to have to scale it down this year. I'm thinking of inviting the in laws to our house so we can avoid another trip over there. 

LoneStar21416

@christac1010 I love those shirts.  I will have no shame in that game.  I like the skeleton ones a little more than the pumpkin smuggler though.  I can't find a good skeleton one though that is also maternity - which seems so completely bizarre.  I saw a few on Amazon and the descriptions explicitly said, "not a maternity shirt. Size appropriately" or words to that effect.  I can't imagine a non-maternity shirt will get the job done!

KRB22

I'm actually looking forward to Christmas this year. I'll be 37 weeks and kind of like the fact that that lets me off the hook for cooking/hosting/attending multiple functions. 

Both mine and DH's parents live nearby, so luckily travel isn't an issue. My parents have Christmas Eve at their house - with 30+ people - and DH and I usually make a big component of the meal. Someone else will have to step up and manage that this year, but I don't think it will be an issue. 

We usually see my ILs Christmas Day, but my BIL and SIL both live out of town and depending on if/when they're traveling it can get a little tricky. Last year we ended up having Christmas dinner 4 days in a row, just to accommodate everyone's schedules. It was exhausting. This year we have a good reason to draw the line at 1 Christmas celebration with his family. 

And luckily our families are pretty good about the gifts. We normally get something for our parents and the kids, and then pick out of a hat amongst my siblings. And I try to do most of that shopping online anyway. 

We will definitely be getting a big tree, but it's only our 2nd Christmas in the house and we don't have a whole lot of other decorations. DH will be in charge of "undecorating."

nolemama24

I actually also just started thinking about this a few days ago, since I have *shamelessly* been listening to my Christmas playlist the past few days. I am so ready for Christmas, I love the holidays. Luckily, my family lives in the same city as we do, and so does my MIL/FIL. However, the rest of my fiancee's family lives in other states (not too crazy far, about 6-8 hour drive). Last year, we did Christmas Eve with my parents and drove early Christmas morning to Atlanta to be with his sisters & we spent the rest of the weekend there. 

However, this year, a large chunk of my family is flying in from Venezuela for the birth of our baby (WOOT so happy we live in a two bedroom townhouse, no room for guests, not sorry 'bout it!) and they are staying here through Christmas & the birth of our baby (due mid Jan). I will be 37 weeks on Christmas day and I really hope his family doesn't expect us to travel anywhere. I told him I really don't want to travel and he agreed, so I am just wondering how it will all play out! I do plan on decorating, though. We bought this townhouse together earlier this year, and it's our first "home" & I am very much looking forward to making some memories for our first Christmas in our first house. We don't have a ton of room, I just plan on changing the dining room table mantle/getting a small tree/putting some different centerpieces around/maybe a wreath on the front door. I PLAN on having it all down on Three King's Day I hope baby stays put until my due date or at least near it!

Editing to add: I also can't wait for the maternity holiday shirts!!!!! Also, doesn't O Tannenbaum (peanuts) get you all in the mood for Christmas? Seriously very excited, LOL!

mommy2ane

Ahh!!! I'm so excited thinking about Christmas already. October through December is my favorite time of the year. We are so happy we don't have to travel far this year! We're with my family for Thanksgiving this year and they're only 20 minutes away. We're still up in the air about whether it'll be at our house or my parents'. My inlaws will be staying with us though since they moved to Texas, and everyone in the family is still in Southern California. 

Christmas as is going to be a little trickier. I'm due 1/10, but I had my son at 37 weeks due to pre-e. We're hoping it's not a repeat, but 37 weeks puts us the week of Christmas so we're semi-preparing for that. Christmas Eve is with my family. We're still talking about whether it'll be at my parents or our house. It'll probably be at their house though. Either way works for us as long as we get help with the cooking. My LO is starting to really understand Christmas so we're planning on decorating and everything. It'll probably be more simple since I can't do as much, but we're excited since it'll be our first in our house. I figure I'll get help from family to take it all down. 

We do Christmas Day with my husband's side. My inlaws are probably staying with us and we'll do our immediate family Christmas at our house. The big family Christmas could end up being an hour from us at an aunt or uncle's house. We're also toying with offering to have it at our house since it's more central to the entire family and I won't have to travel, but with all the uncertainty, we're torn. I'm hoping we go to his aunts. Her house is close to our hospital so it'll be easier for us to get there if we need to. 

hjmorgan-2

I loooove the holidays, so I'm really looking forward to it this year. Mostly because it's like we get a bonus Christmas gift right after!(baby)

Although I am not looking forward to being sooo uncomfortable and basically missing out on all the fun Christmas shopping.(I love Christmas shopping, I have gone out black Friday every year...) This year will be a lot of online shopping... lol. However I'm not due until late January, so I'm not worried about him popping out early, plus I am expecting to be late. That's just how life works for me, nothing is on time. lol

KarliQ88

Great topic!!! I'm looking forward to hear from everyone. I'm due January 4th so I'll be only a couple weeks away. Normally we do xmas at My sister's house since it's half way point for everyone... My sister called and was like "don't worry i talked to *brothers name*, mom and dad. We will do xmas at your house this year. Since mom works xmas we were thinking of doing it new years. Maybe we will all be around for the baby's arrival."
Um....excuse me?? First off i was planning on skipping xmas this year because i don't want people coming here nor do i want to travel to my sister's. And second...Only 3 days before my due date you want me to host christmas at my house? So you, your husband, 3 kids, brother, sister in law and their 2 kids plus mom and dad can all stay here when im THREE days away from my due date? And we've alreasy decided noone will be allowed in the hospital to visit...not even in waiting room. 
I talked with my mom and she was like...."yea. I get what your saying but i don't know how to approach this one." 
So looking forward to others and how they are handling the holidays. 

karaelaine1991

HJMorgan said:

I loooove the holidays, so I'm really looking forward to it this year. Mostly because it's like we get a bonus Christmas gift right after!(baby)

Although I am not looking forward to being sooo uncomfortable and basically missing out on all the fun Christmas shopping.(I love Christmas shopping, I have gone out black Friday every year...) This year will be a lot of online shopping... lol. However I'm not due until late January, so I'm not worried about him popping out early, plus I am expecting to be late. That's just how life works for me, nothing is on time. lol

Lol I totally said the same thing about DD, especially since all 5 of my mom's pregnancies ended as late as they possibly could've, and wouldn't you know she came the day before her due date. I was stunned.

urbanorchidgirl

I'm not planning on doing much. I'm due 1/1, so baby boy might be here already at Christmas! Or my luck, he'll be late. Lol. We usually go to the mountains to cut a tree, but we'll have to buy one this year. My mom lives 2 blocks away, so I don't have to worry about cooking! I don't even want to do presents, because figure that the baby is our gift! I'm going for a low pressure Christmas!

Becid24

I'm very nervous about this. My daughter & 2 nieces have birthdays early in December and then Xmas . A hhh. My dr feels I will go sometime around Xmas he actually said on Xmas day in a big snowstorm. And if my previous kids births are any indication he may be right. They were 2.5 weeks early & 2 weeks early and that puts me at the day after Xmas. I'm really hoping to be done with all shopping by November and then will take it as easy as possible thru the holiday parties. We don't travel more than 20 miles so that's not an issue but any one sick will be. My immediate family is notorious for bringing sick kids and not telling us until after they leave and I don't want to worry about that with my 2 older kids. I'm kinda hitting a panic mode that I have so much to get done and not enough time or energy to do it in. I don't have a nursery ready for baby and need to do some major work to that room to get it ready. Then I have to repaint 3 rooms and rearrange all the kids to different rooms and myself. Plus shop for birthday & Xmas presents and have them wrapped and under a tree I hope. Well I guess we get done what we can and the rest will have to wait.

bab&tjp

We plan on doing most the décor still but hubby will def be on his own with the outside lights. I may not do quite as much but just like most of you Christmas is my most fav time of year to decorate for. We started doing the Elf on a shelf thing last year for my 5 year old and now I am worried about being too tired to think up of ideas to make him do every night. I know I have to do it but dreading that dang thing. When he moves they may not be as elaborate as last year. We hosted Christmas with my family last year. Casual, in our Pj's, watching Christmas movies, a week before Christmas. I don't think I will be up for hosting this year since I will be 38 weeks. Thank goodness we all live pretty close to each other so travel wont be a problem.

aishmc

My husband actually told his family we would host Christmas so I wouldn't have to travel   I nipped that in the bud. His parents have offered, but they're an hour away and in the Bay Area around the holidays we'd be looking at a two hour drive. He's going to talk to his sister about hosting since she's only 15 minutes away from the hospital were plan to deliver at. 

I still want to decorate, and we have lots of family support so I'm not worried about taking down the tree and lights. What I am worried about is how I'll be able to eat ALL the tamales with limited stomach space!

shlecks

I will be between 36-37 weeks and I'm not sure what we will do. We alternate holidays since both sets of parents are not close to each other and it'll be the closer set's turn(3 hours). But I suppose it'll be up to my dr. I know my SIL decided not to travel at Christmas a couple years ago when she was about 35 weeks but I honestly don't know how I'm gonna feel.