Our First Christmas as a Family of Four | Me Becoming Mum

First Christmases are always an exciting time; whether it is your first with a new partner, or your first with a new baby. This year John and I celebrated eight years of being together – but more exciting than that is the fact that we celebrating our first Christmas with our newest addition, our new baby girl.

I forgot how crazy life is with a newborn - and when you also have a toddler, the experience is completely different. From the day that Little L was born, we have had so many small (and some large!) adjustments to make in our lives. This time of year is always busy and crazy enough, without the added pressure of adding a newborn into the mix!

Despite this massive change to our lives, I wouldn't change it for the world. I am so glad that we are celebrating Christmas this year as a family of four. Read on for the best points about our Christmas this year...

Baby's first Christmas is always one to remember...

There is nothing better than creating memories with your children, especially at this time of year. Christmas has always been my favourite time of year, but it is so much more special when you add children into the mix. Part of creating memories is not just having them in your mind, but also taking plenty of photos and having items such as keepsakes which help you to keep those memories close to your heart.

I absolutely love the My First Christmas set that we have for Little L from The Gro Company. We never had anything like this when we had R, and despite her being so young, I am pleased that we have it for L.

This gorgeous set is the perfect addition to our Christmas this year, as we celebrate Little L's arrival. One of my favourite things about this set is the fact that inside the box only one of the items says, "My First Christmas" on it - which means we can take some cute photos with L in her bib, but continue to use the other items in the future - the perfect way to remember this special first Christmas with our beautiful baby girl.

Each item inside the box is incredibly well made, and I love that the stocking and comforter are both made from soft materials, that are so lovely to touch - something that is especially great for little ones, as touch is one of the main senses they use.

Christmas is different with a newborn...

Celebrating Little L's first Christmas is very different to celebrating R's - who at the time of her first Christmas was ten months old. I think that next year, as she will be turning one, L will have more of a 'first Christmas' than she will this year - as the reality is that a newborn cannot truly appreciate or understand Christmas!

As we have kept quite a lot of R's clothing, cloth nappies and toys - and also had to buy the major items you need for a newborn because Little L arrive prior to Christmas - we didn't have a need for Little L to have anything specific for Christmas. To make it a little more fair (as R has a big thing at the moment about each of our girls being treated equally) we simply wrapped up some of R's hand-me-downs. L will not know the difference, and R will not remember any of it as she was tiny when she used them.

Even though she is so tiny however, we have decided that we still wanted to treat her to some gifts of her own, so that not everything that she has is a hand-me-down. We have bought her a number of small gifts, such as developmental toys, and some books to start her collection (especially as R has tonnes of books, and love them!)

Little L's timing is perfect - Daddy is home for Christmas...

For the first time in almost twenty years, my husband is able to have the whole of Christmas off. In the eight years that he and I have been together, he has often had to work both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day (thanks to the joys of working in retail). At most he has had one or the other of these days off.

I am so glad that we live in a country that offers such amazing opportunities such as maternity and paternity leave; and that it means John is off to spend Christmas with us. Having him off for Little L's first couple of weeks in the world is obviously an amazing thing, especially to give us the chance to start to settle into a routine - which is super important with a toddler to consider too. Having him around at this time of year is the icing on the cake!

I know that the two weeks paternity leave John is currently taking, that allows for him to be home with me for Christmas will be ending sooner than I would like... "Time flies when you are having fun", isn't that what they say?

There are many more 'firsts' to come - and many milestones that we will be reaching in the coming years for each of our girls - but for now I am just going to enjoy the time that we have together, as we spend our first Christmas as a family of four.

For more posts about Christmas, visit the Christmas category page. If you have any questions about our first Christmas as a family of four which I have not covered in this post, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: The lovely team at The Gro Company sent me a My First Christmas gift set, in return for an honest review and inclusion in my post about our baby's first Christmas. The review words and opinions are my own.