All the younger siblings were given an animal finger puppet. It was only small and probably cost no more than a bag of lollies (less if you count the time it would take for someone to make said bags of lollies!) but I think it’s a much nicer gift. It will last and didn’t hype the kids up at the end of an exciting night as sugar would have – and no one had to worry about allergies either.

So if you’re after a token gift, keep animal finger puppets in mind – they work a treat! Especially when Santa hands them out

It has become commonplace for retailers to offer stockings and baubles with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ on them, but there are many other ways to make the first Christmas special for the new parents and everyone’s memories.

Maybe start a family tradition of Christmas photos (thanks for the idea Bronwyn) or the youngest person gets the first gift. Or perhaps rethink the venue and format of your Christmas celebrations to be more baby and child friendly. Get everyone to sign a Christmas card or scrapbook page (like a 21st key or wedding guest book) or record a video message.

So, what does your family do for first Christmases? Or is another Christmas experience considered more important in your family?

For his second Christmas, my cousin gave me an awesome present. She had written out a voucher for a night’s babysitting!

It was such a thoughtful gift – she’s often given thoughtful gifts but this one was a stand out and probably kept me happy many times leading up to and after the actual night we used the voucher. It helped that she was experienced with kids and is so calm that trust was easy.

This is my thank you to my cousin, plus a little hope that someone else could give a similar gift to new parents they know – it could make such a huge difference to them and its cheap, too!

For starters, the baby can’t read and doesn’t really care – sorry to disappoint you but it’s true. If the baby is old enough to sit up and watch Christmas around them, they’ll be more interested in the wrapping paper, people and decorations than a stocking (especially as many are insipid pastel things for some silly gender bias).

I prefer the ideas from Santa’s Elf on items that are at least reusable - put the year of the first Christmas on the stocking they’ll use for the next decade or so or get a beautiful photo you can display. Much better use of money than a stocking that is too small to hold anything and looks silly if used for baby’s second or third Christmas.

But even better is to just enjoy Christmas with that baby – they don’t stay babies for long so treasure it by playing together rather than buying mementos you’ll just have to store and never look at again.

A special note for grandparents, aunts, uncles and so on – it’s cute to acknowledge someone’s first Christmas with a baby but think about if they really want a cheap stocking or a genuine keepsake. My daughter was inundated last year with cutesy stockings and baubles – she feels guilty throwing them out but hates the idea of storing such nonsense. The friend who took a lovely photo of each parent holding the baby and framed them put in a little more effort and his gift is proudly on the wall for all to see.

My daughter was also happy with her brother’s ‘first Christmas’ idea of starting a family album where a photo of my grandchildren (I assume more will come!) will be placed each Christmas as a record of the family growing.

So I just think people should put a little thought into first Christmases rather than those commercialised ideas retailers want us to follow. I don’t mean to offend, just to get people thinking…

The idea is for a parent/grandparent to talk for 10 or so minutes about the Xmas traditions of their home country/region, showing any costumes or props, then answering questions.

It’s a nice way to celebrate Christmas without just being about gifts or decorations and it’s a fun way to teach them about different cultures and countries (must remember to have a world globe handy!)

Of course, what happens for the baby on Christmas can be very different as it could be one day or 364 days since their birthday. A newborn will have no idea Christmas Day is special but an older baby will notice things are happening.

Many of the things done to show it is a special day for the new family form mementos (keepsakes) that can be saved or even reused, such as:

• a Love Santa letter that is added to a scrapbooking album or frame after Christmas
• a toy Santa or reindeer labelled for the baby or ‘first Christmas’ can be used as an annual decoration or plaything for a limited time each year
• giving a (full size) Christmas stocking with the child’s name and year on it – this can be used at subsequent Christmases
• Christmas tree decorations with the name and year or ‘first Christmas’ on the decoration – again, this can be used each  year as a reminder and given to the child for their own home when they are an adult
• mini Christmas stocking with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ printed on it
• a top or suit with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ printed on it – if given early enough, this can be worn at various December events, too!
• a special photo (such as a photo with Santa) can be framed or highlighted in an album
• a personally written letter, poem or story can be displayed that Christmas then stored in a scrapbooking album or treasures box

It really was all day we did it so we had a huge pile of chains at the end When we hanged it up it went all around our lounge room two times and dangled down beside the door on both side too.

loved that day with my mum, loved seeing those chains hanging up for weeks. So that’s my favourite Christmas memory and my idea of what people can do with kids for fun in December.

While Christmas is a time for fun and pleasure, it can also be used to encourage new values and lifestyles, such as helping kids be more active.

The choice of active-inspiring gifts will depend on the child’s age and current activity levels, but here are some gift suggestions that encourage doing rather than sitting.

• wheeled transport – a bike, scooter, inline skates or skateboard are all popular and require kids to move and be in the fresh air
• put a swing up in your yard or on the veranda
• a skipping rope and set of elastics
• toy or inflatable bowling pins and ball
• a ball or bat and ball set
• swimming pool toys
• outdoor accessories (hat, sunscreen, water bottle) – good filler type gifts that can be effective if you choose well (e.g. a Toy Story hat and Cars branded sunscreen will be proudly used by my 3-year-old)
• sand pit toys – if you don’t have a sand pit (which is itself a gift idea!) that’s a good excuse to head to a beach or park
• gardening tools – toy ones or scaled real ones so they can help you
• a bucket of chalk they can use outside on the concrete – and run chalk chases if they’re old enough
• equipment for a kitchen – set it up in a cubby or a corner of the verandah. Their imaginations will get them moving more than you may think
• a family pass to the zoo, local pool, a water park or even an indoor playground
• a voucher for some classes – gymnastics, dance, circus, tennis, cricket, yoga, skating. etc
• materials to build something like a billy cart, cubby, garden box or wagon
• play dough, clay or other material that needs manipulation
•  electronic games that go with a Wii board or XBox Kinetics (think Wii Fit, sports and dancing games)
• a kite
• things  for blowing bubbles

I remember one year I got men’s jocks and my uncle got some sewing things (destined for my cousin) – my Grandmother had mixed up some gift tags. SO we all very cautiously opened our gifts from there on as we never knew exactly whose gift we were opening!

Every time you see Christmas lights and smile, feel a twinge of nostalgia at a carol, go back in time at the smell of pine leaves, get excited over presents, or otherwise enjoy the moments of Christmas, you are feeling the magic of Christmas that I love.

Many people complain about this time of year, and I agree that it can be overwhelming to have many events to prepare for and meeting commercialised expectations of gifts, but I think it is lovely to stop and enjoy the magic occasionally.

There are people who will steal this magic away, and it’s up to us to keep it safe. I try not to listen to the anti-Christmas crowd, and I certainly don’t include their comments in this blog (this blog is about Christmas and Santa  for families and comments out of that mind set are rejected – sorry if that offends but that’s my prerogative.) Even science, which brings us many things, has its limits and has no real place where people are knowingly enjoying the magic and spirit of the holiday.

How do you deal with people who try to destroy your belief and pleasure in the magical aspects of Christmas? How do you keep the wonder alive and spread it to others?

So we wish you a Merry Christmas full of the magic and wonder felt by children everywhere.

I was very impressed by a Dymocks catalogue not long ago as they did list the age for books aimed at kids.

For anybody else after age appropriate ideas, I found an Australian site listing some good books at a couple of ages – and asking for more people to add to their list so it may be bigger by now with luck.

Books are such a great gift but only if it meets the requirements of the reader. Do you give many books as gifts?

Hopefully the form is pretty easy to fill in, and last year we gave some tips on getting the best results.

You can also choose when to receive the letter. In our experience, letters arriving too early are less effective (and sometimes confusing) than those in the last few weeks before Christmas. However, people sometimes want an earlier letter so you can choose a delivery week if you wish.

Letters are sent just prior to or early in the choisen week and arrive soon after (how soon depends on exactly where you live).

If you don’t choose a delivery week, the letters will be sent between the 14th and 18th December.