X-Mas Eve dilemma

What to do, what to do? Each year, my wife and I are torn. Both sides of our family celebrate more on the Eve as opposed to Day. That ushers in all sorts of decisions:
-How do we break up Christmas Eve?
-How does Christmas Day factor in?
-Should we rotate each year?
-What about when we have children?

Growing up, our two families have taken similar paths; Christmas Eve is when the entire extended family gathers for many hours and then on Christmas Day each individual family does its own thing at home or whatever. Each Christmas in the past, we have basically split the day in half. We go to her side from 12-5pm and then to my side of the family from 6-10pm. I feel this works, she does not.

She feels like she has to constantly look at her watch and is on a schedule. Now that we are parents, it's even more difficult to pull this off. Amanda will be only two weeks old on Christmas Eve Eve. Our pediatrician told us to avoid contact with "large groups" for the first five weeks of her life. She is susceptible to catching illness. That begs the question, "What is a large group?"

Katie's side of the family has seven children ranging in ages from 7 to 17. In the past, she's been bitten several times at this very event. We were deathly ill on December 26, 2004 when the tsunami hit Southeast Asia. What great birthday memories I have...

I have a feeling that we are simply going to stay home on Christmas Eve and phone in our greetings. It's particularly tough on me as I would love to show off our newborn. It's quite rare that you have a child just before a major family gathering and have the opportunity to share with everyone at the same time what a joyous and special present you've received this year.