Go All Out on the Holiday Card
If there’s one thing new parents love, it’s whipping out baby photos every chance they get. Holiday cards are the perfect excuse to foist your baby’s adorableness on pretty much everyone in your address book, so take advantage with a primo photo card. We love the modern designs from Tiny Prints and Minted.

Splurge on Christmas PJs
Nothing amps up the Christmas morning cute factor like a pair of cuddly holiday footie pajamas. Sure, your baby can only wear them for a month, but if you get something unisex, you can hand them down to the next kid.

Choose a Gorgeous Stocking
This is the stocking you’ll pull out year after year, so get something you really love. If your stockings hold their fair share of the gift booty, look for something roomy. If you only use stockings for little trinkets, go with something smaller.

Pick and Choose Traditions
Do you love how your family always throws a kitschy Christmas sweater party, or how your husband’s spends Christmas Eve playing board games? Now you have your own little family, and you can hand-pick the traditions that you like best to form your own set.

Start a New Family Tradition
As much as you’ll be influenced by how you grew up, it’s also fun to come up with something that’s all your own. Make it a ritual to read the same special holiday book each year, watch retro holiday specials like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Visit Santa
Sure, your baby has no idea who the portly guy in red is. But you do, and so do your parents, who will get a big thrill out of seeing your babe (even if he’s screaming) sitting on Santa’s lap in photos. Also, enjoy the total lack of interest in getting on Santa’s gift list—it won’t last!

Buy a Keepsake Ornament
Ornaments are all about the memories associated with them, and this first Christmas is a biggie. So commemorate it with a sweet ornament you’ll love pulling out year after year. Create a photo ornament with your fave snapshot of the year, or personalize one with baby’s name.

Create a Photo Op
You may not realize it, but your babe’s at an ideal age to get some great snaps. She can’t run out of the frame, and although it might be hard to get her into it, she can’t pull off that sweet holiday outfit you bought for her. Shoot when you get as much natural light as possible, and use your tree or stocking-filled mantel as a background. Be sure to take a lot of photos to get just the right shot.

Give an Heirloom Gift
Along with the requisite brightly-colored baby toys, this is the year to give a gift that your baby will have forever and can pass down to her own kids some day. Need ideas? A locket, pretty snow globe or keepsake box are all classic choices.

Make Travel Painless
If your family’s far away, the holidays might include baby’s first plane ride. Don’t weigh yourself down by overpacking; packs of diapers and formula can be bought at your destination, and you’ll most likely be able to do laundry wherever you are staying. However, do pack about one diaper for every hour of travel (you do not want to run out at 30,000 feet) and include plenty of wipes.