For many, Christmas time is frantically filled with finding the best bargains, choosing the right gifts and buying enough food.
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But the focus is different for this family.
Zoe Wilson weighed just 2.4 kilograms when she was born eight weeks premature last Friday. Her early arrival coincided with her family's Christmas barbecue in Young – she clearly couldn't wait a whole year for her first Christmas.
Her mother, Lauren, started feeling pains at the afternoon barbecue.
"I went into Young Hospital at ten to seven and she was born at 10 past eight," she said.
"It was spontaneous and unexpected."
Zoe was flown to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children at the Canberra Hospital campus and was met by Mrs Wilson and her husband, Chris.
The parents are able to nurse Zoe on some days more than others where she remains at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, due to the range of support and monitoring she is on. When they do, her entire hand adorably wraps around just the tip of her mother's index finger.
The NICU and the Special Care Unit provide care for babies who need extra attention after a preterm birth, or those with low birth weight, breathing difficulty, low blood sugar level, infection, birth trauma and some congenital abnormalities. On average, two to three babies are admitted daily.
While this is not where the Wilson family expected to spend Christmas, it only matters that they are together. Their new 2.4-kilogram bundle of joy was the most precious gift of all.
"It's hard being in the unknown, but being in the care of the professionals and having great support makes it less frightening," Mrs Wilson said.
"We were going to have Christmas with one child and now we will have it with two, but we wouldn't have it any other way."
Santa has already paid a visit to Zoe's 22-month-old brother, Toby, at the the neighbouring Ronald McDonald House where they are staying. Zoe will also meet him when he delivers gifts to all 23 babies in the NICU and SCN on Christmas day.
Clinical director at the NICU, Dr Hazel Carlisle, said parents overwhelmed by their experience at the hospital have support available through nurses, social workers and other ex-NICU parents.
She said staff also work hard over Christmas to make it special and memorable for families who are missing home and their close support network.
"Christmas is actually a reasonably popular time to work," she said.
"While there can obviously be some sad times, it is quite a rewarding time to work and give back to the families."