Arguably one of the best parts of the holiday season is, like parenthood, there's no "right way" to go about it. Sure, you have your traditions, but families get to make create their own, unique ways of celebrating with friends and families. So, I won't say you absolutely should go about ringing in Thanksgiving one specific way, but I will say there are more than a few reasons why you should host Thanksgiving when you have a newborn. Does it sound a little crazy? Sure. But, I mean, so does motherhood.
Most of the advice I like to pass on to fellow moms — when they ask, because we all know that no new mom needs more unsolicited advice — is about the things that worked well for me; swaddling, using blackout curtains, and sleeping on a towel if you’re nursing. Of course, I did learn a few lessons the hard way, which I'm more than excited to share so people can learn from my mistakes. For example, it's best to purchase your breast pump before your baby arrives, let you want to find yourself crying under the neon lights of a big box store, staring at racks of bottle nipples and trying to read the packaging through blurry eyes when you're three days postpartum. Not to be dramatic or anything but, seriously, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Another hard-earned lesson? Host your kid's first Thanksgiving. See, I didn't host my son's. I wanted to and was, in fact, planning to. However, I got sick and had to turn the responsibility over to my mother-in-law. It’s actually a sensitive subject for me because, now my son is a toddler, and the idea of hosting a major holiday is laughably more complicated. Every fantasy I have about carrying a glorious turkey on a platter to an beautifully adorned table surrounded by smiling family members is squashed by the reality that I would most definitely step on one of my son's fifty billion trains and send both myself and the turkey flying, sitcom style. How I wish I’d had my stuff together enough last year to host, and here’s why: