There’s just something extra-special about a Christmas baby, isn’t there?
Whatever the debate over that baby born in Bethlehem centuries ago, that teen mom with the unplanned pregnancy named Mary would surely agree that her Christmas baby changed everything forever, for her and countless other believers. You needn’t know for sure if Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Nazareth or Bethlehem of Galilee to recognize the impact that Christmas baby had on generations to come. Whether the birth actually occurred on December 25 or any other day doesn’t dilute the miracle, either. (Don’t even get us started on the argument over whether Jesus’ teen mom was actually a virgin or not.)
Because as Andrew Springer notes in his 12/20 Medium essay, “Is the Christmas Story in the Bible True?”: “That Jesus probably wasn’t born in a manger makes no difference. The factuality of the Bible in any specific instance makes no difference. Two thousand years ago a poor man named Jesus went about preaching the coming of the kingdom of God and was executed for it. Wise men, manger, massacre or not, two thousand years later we’re still talking about it.”
That Christmas baby changed everything, in the most special of ways.
Placing or Adopting a Christmas baby
Over the past 30 years, Abrazo has had plenty of babies born in the Christmas season. Adopting parents are often quick to thank placing parents for “this special gift,” yet it’s important to remember that nobody gifts a baby, because no adoptee’s purpose is to be somebody’s present. To be the birthparent or adoptive parent of a child placed over the holidays can also evoke added emotions and stress. After all. being hospitalized (or hotelized) over Christmas is hard– just as giving birth in a Middle Eastern manger surely was.
For those who work in adoption, being “on call” during the holidays means having to forfeit one’ s own holiday plans with family and friends at a moment’s notice to attend to a placing parent, adopting parent or child being placed. Five years ago, Abrazo’s staff spent the Christmas holiday visiting with a baby in a local NICU who had been placed for adoption but didn’t have new parents in place yet. Rocking that sweet little boy and singing him Christmas carols on a day devoted to celebrating another baby boy of uncertain paternity was a reminder that a baby truly can change everything, just as our sweet NICU baby did upon meeting his new family.
Mothers delivering over holidays sometimes must contend with their ob-gyn having another doctor attending for them. (Having to forever associate a major holiday with a major loss can be a challenge, as well.) Adopting parents from out of state who take placement right before Christmas or New Year’s need to be prepared for Interstate Compact delays, due to holiday vacation staffing in state offices. (Doing something extra nice for your hospital staff who have to work through the holidays is always a nice touch.)
The good news is that for thirty years (and counting), Abrazo has always had a degreed staff member on-call on every single holiday, so if we’re needed, we’re there to help– no matter what.
Being a Christmas Baby
For those who are a Christmas baby, being born on Christmas is statistically quite rare, so if you beat those odds, consider yourself special, indeed. (Learn more about what makes Christmas babies unique here.) Being born over the holidays means everybody is typically off-work for your birthday, and the whole world decorates to celebrate the season of you.
The best of parents know that Christmas gifts and birthday gifts need to be separate, and that family celebrations can be, too. Christmas is a intuitive time for families to catch up and reunite, which makes it a naturally-comfortable time for birthfamilies and adoptive families to exchange updates and check in with each other. It’s important to remember, though, that birthdays can be introspective events for adoptees struggling with a primal wound, so it’s important for others to be sensitive to an adoptee’s need to possibly draw inward around the time of a holiday birth or placement.
As the Abrazo community nationwide prepares for Christmas, for Hanukkah, for Diwali and/or for Kwanzaa, we send out our fondest wishes to everyone. And if our agency is blessed with a Christmas baby this year, you know we’ll be there with bells on, because truly: a baby changes everything, and we’re blest to know that firsthand, every day of any year.
