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| |    Newborns and Infants: Let the Holiday Celebrations Begin! by Susan E. Davis reviewed by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. Including newborns and infants in holiday activities creates roots, bonds, and traditions that will strengthen and give pleasure to your family for years to come. Even though babies may snooze (or wail!) through the singing, candle lighting, and feasting, you can be sure that a family environment of love and happiness will help shape their perceptions of the world well into adulthood. And although they may not remember a thing from these early celebrations, there are ways to ensure that they look back at them with pride and fondness in later years: Record. Photographs and videos will help preserve the magic of these first winter holidays. As soon as children are old enough to be interested in pictures of themselves as babies (generally around preschool age), they'll be delighted to see that they were integral to family festivities right from the start. Jot down a few notes in their baby books or start a holiday journal in which you record some of the things that happened during these special times, how your daughter shrieked when she saw her first department-store Santa, for instance, or how your son spit out his first taste of mashed fried plantain, right onto Uncle John's favorite tie. Collect. You can begin a chain of memories by starting a special holiday collection for each of your children when they're first born, and then adding to it over the years. You might make or buy a Christmas tree ornament that has some special significance, for example: an angel to represent this first innocent year, a soccer ball the year they kick the winning goal in the championship game, a sea turtle to commemorate a family vacation in Hawaii. Dreidels, snowglobes, harvest symbols, nativity figurines, homemade construction-paper snowflakes are other objects that might spark a deeply meaningful family tradition, whatever you think might give you joy to collect and give to your children when they're grown. Preserve. Tuck away those gift tags and cards sent to your baby on his first winter holiday, as well as special toys and clothes--that blue and white "Baby's First Hanukkah" bib from Aunt Betty, for instance, the red, white, and green velour sleeper Grammy gave him, or the plastic New Year's hat you propped on his head for a midnight snapshot. When your child gets a little older, he's sure to value these early tokens of affection, and your own heart will be touched when recalling the preciousness of these times.
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