PICTURES: Miracle baby's first Christmas is bliss for Inverness family
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An Inverness family are celebrating their first Christmas with their "miracle" bundle of joy this year.
Only last year Emma and Mark Ridgers – who is goalkeeper for Inverness Caley Thistle – were going through the rollercoaster of IVF treatment, dealing with the uncertainty of not knowing if they'd be able to become parents.
However, unexpectedly and after many challenging years, baby Roman arrived into their lives in February this year.
Now, the family is celebrating a first Christmas together and trying all the festive activities for the first time.
"We never thought we would get this moment," said Emma. "The part that I think got us the most was wrapping the presents and writing 'To Roman' on them – that was a real heart-tug."
One of the best activities, she said, was to create Christmas cards with Roman.
"We did some cards using his footprints and creating designs from them and he was laughing so much! Hand prints were a bit less successful but it was so much fun.
"I used to receive these cards from my nephews and we thought we'd never get to do that, so it was a very special moment."
After his first introduction to Santa – which went well "until Santa decided to look at him", said Emma – and being extremely well-behaved around the tree decorations, they are celebrating their first Christmas Day as a family.
"We wanted it to be just us – some relatives coming to visit throughout the day, but we really knew we wanted a quiet Christmas, to savour every moment," Emma added.
Roman, who is "definitely on the good list" – "he lets us sleep long enough and eats everything you put in front of him", Emma explained – will have fun unwrapping presents together.
With two special "gift unwrappers": with the help of Buddy and Murph – the Ridgers' dogs – everyone in the house is ensured to have a fun Christmas Day.
We'd love to see photos of your first Christmas with your wee one. Send them to newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
