Christmas baby

[HOBSON725]

Am I the only one who is having a baby that is due around Christmas? (due date, dec.28th)?? I have about had it with people telling me that my baby will hate me because her birthday will be around Christmas!!! Just wondering if I'm the only one in the whole world who might have a baby on Christmas!!! Thanks for reading my vent!!!

[Geebee]

I didn't have a Christmas baby, but I don't like when people say this. I had a friend who said the same thing, but then she became pregnant when she wanted to. Some of us (me) were so happy that we were finally pregnant (after over a year) that we didn't care when the baby was born! I just think that it is an insensitive comment to make, especially to a pregnant woman! I feel for you!

[alandenisefields]

As a parent, the best thing you can do is to separate the birthday and X-mas as much as you can---that is, resist the urge to buy combo gifts, to combine holiday parties and birthday parties, etc.

In fact, your child will probably love their birthday---X-mas is a time that families gather, special holiday events happen. So they might be better off in the end!

best wishes,
Alan & Denise Fields, Authors
BABY BARGAINS

[tibren1010]

My baby is due Dec. 23 - no one has told me that he will hate me for it, but everyone seems to think he'll never get a birthday party or separate presents. My brother's birthday is Dec. 18, and my parents made it clear from the beginning that all relatives were not to gyp the poor kid out of his fair share of presents - and they didn't. Now that he's 22, he doesn't mind hitting my mom up for "combo" presents - like a new laptop computer! The party issue was more of a problem, but I think they just had them a week before his birthday instead of on the actual day. So if he hates our parents, it's not because of his birthday!!

[kbalchus]

I was due on 12/27 last year (my son was born 12/29) so I heard all that too. I agree, it was aggravating. To say that he will be cheated out of presents by having his B-day so close to Christmas, to me, implies that both days are about "getting stuff". Actually, I hope that having them so close together will be a special thing for him, that's certainly how I plan on presenting it to him when he gets old enough!

I would just smile and nod...:)

Take care,
Kristen

[gina]

My sister-in-law's birthday is Christmas Eve, and she has always had a cool tradition: celebrate her real birthday, then 6 months later, have a 1/2 birthday pool party with lots of friends and cake.

We liked the idea so much that my oldest daughter has taken treats to school on her 1/2 birthday every year. My daughter is a summer baby and felt left out because of the "school year" birthdays.

And for those who still have a problem with a Holiday birth, remind them that Christ-mas is the celebration of the birth of Christ!

[shandrin]

My son was due the 27 of dec but didn't come along till jan...but anyways close enough to xmas...one of our other children has a birthday less than a month to xmas. We just make sure we seperate the days in others words buy just like we would had the childs birthday been in a different time of year...i'll admit it can make it harder to come up with gift ideas since it's so close to xmas but we manage...i have also heard of people having children parties in the summer or spring so that the kids are more around to come...i have not done this since neither are in school yet but am prepared too down the road.

As to people and their 'opinions' well you'll always have people who are like that no matter what the topic...i always just like the comment well that's your opinion but not mine.

;-)

[Dancer]

I celebrate my birthday on December 21st! I love being born near Christmas - though being born before Christmas I think is a little better. Everyone is always in the partying frame of mind before Christmas and my birthday parties are always a deal. I was 34 a few weeks ago and have probably had 25 official parties. When I was young, the best part was that everyone always had the day off for my birthday because of Christmas vacation (Catholic schools have Christmas vacation and not winter break!). We did things like ice skating, Christmas caroling, making ornaments and other holiday related stuff. I loved it!

To this day, I do have rules:

1) No birthday gifts in Christmas paper! I buy paper for your gift, I expect no less from you! (this is the hardest rule to enforce and the most frequently broken)

2) No combi gifts (unless it's a big ticket item and I've asked for the combi)

3 No Christmas related gifts (I started to get a lot of ornaments at one point so I had to put my foot down.)

What's really funny about being a Christmas baby is that everyone remembers your birthday and friends will call me to ask if I'm having a party. To this day, people always think I get gyped over gifts and get short changed in the attention department, but that just isn't true!

PS: don't do the '6 months later party', you will wind up having two a year.

PPS: The only dud is that I always got so many 'winter' gifts. Because of Christmas, I always had all my gifts purchased at the same time of year. Getting something like a boogie board or a nice beach towle was really hard. I'm from San Diego and even in that weather, 'out of season' gifts are still 'out of season' and so hard to find or expensive - my mother paid a fortune for that boogie board! To this day, I never have nice summer clothes and always have a lot of winter things. This is really the only problem.

PPPS: I saw that your baby was born on the 9th! Congratulations!

[klfrazier]

I was also a Christmas baby - Dec 17 (although due Jan 5). I agree with the other posts. I never had a problem because my family made a point of seperating the two events while celebrating them on the real day. In fact, I've always been annoyed with all of the people who wanted to pity me for my birthdate.

My own baby is due on Jan 7, and we have a gut feeling that it will arrive early just as I did. (Mom and I have a lot of spooky similarities with our pregnancies.) I'm actually looking forward to a holiday baby!

[kathsmom]

I was born on January 1st. I love having a "holiday" birthday. It makes me feel really special. I don't hate my parents for this at all. My mom was told she could probably never carry a baby full-term, so I know that I was a special blessing to her. So don't worry about what other people say. They are just being insensitive. Like some of the other posters said, people are already in the mood to celebrate, so that will just enhance the joy you have about your baby. Good luck with your new little one!

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and baby Andrew (yes, we finally named him!!) on the way (9/30/02)

[laura_winckler]

I was born Dec. 8, and the only problems I ever noticed with my birthday was that my friends were sometimes already getting busy with family holiday plans and had a hard time coming to my parties. My mom juggled the dates as needed to try to accommodate that. And my presents all came at the same, so I tended to want stuff in the summer. Oh, well, just means I have to buy my own cool seasonal items. Don't let people bug you. I often felt like a I had a whole month of celebrations! My brother has a summer birthday and I think that is worse once kids start school.


Oh, we didn't decorate the house for Christmas until after my birthday when I was a kid. I always appreciated that little separation, although I don't stick to it now in my own house.

[Gagesmom]

I live in Southern FL, where we have unbearably hot summers that stay unbearably hot thru the middle of October. When I was pregnant with my 1st son, I was due the end of September, and EVERYONE would say, "OOh, you have to be at your biggest during the hottest time of year, TOO BAD." I felt like saying, "Yeah...you're right...I guess I'll just abort this baby and try again so it's more comfortable for me." WHAT IDIOTS! My husband and I tried for nearly a year to conceive, we were thrilled beyond belief, and all anyone could say was that I was going to be hot. People are well-meaning, of course, but so insensitive most of the time. Roll your eyes at them and be rude if you want: it's your right as a hormonal pregnant mess. Best of luck to you! BTW: 2 of my nieces have birthdays within 5 days of Xmas and are fine with it, we just all make sure to celebrate their birthdays as separate occassions. Be sure to let your family, etc. know that you want your child's b-day treated separately from Xmas, so that it's always special for him/her like it is for other kids. YOu won't have a problem and your little Sagittarius or Capricorn won't hold it against you!

[LailaCa]

My hubby's birthday is December 25....we love it!

[brubeck]

I have a daughter who was born on Thanksgiving Day (November 23rd, 2000) and I am right now expecting our son on December 24th, 2002. I don't know if you can get more holiday oriented than that.

Our current plan is that when he is older we will throw him a birthday party on his half birthday in June. That way he can get presents from his friends halfway through the year, and not feel so gypped at Christmas. I do have to admit that it was overwhelming with my daughter last year doubling her toys overnight on her birthday and then getting another big batch a month later. We were able to hold some of them back and distribute them throughout the first half of the year, but with older children I suspect the half birthday party will be better.

However I don't think there is anything wrong with a Christmas baby. It is actually very humbling to be having a baby at a time of year when everyone celebrates a special birth.