blessed yule everyone! merry christmas…happy holidays…happy hanuka…however you choose to celebrate the season, i hope that it was everything you hoped it to be. ours? all in all, it was probably one of the best ones we have had it a long time. of course there were the ups and the downs; and some lessons learned!

during the rest of the year our home is very child friendly. maybe more than most because of the fact that our son is autistic. during the course of a normal day sir dantes can go in any room (except for maybe the bathrooms) and be himself. we have to keep an eye on him for normal things, like making sure he doesn’t turn on the stove, but he knows what he is allowed to touch and not. but, rearrange everything and bring out the “untouchable” christmas decorations….all hell could break loose at any moment!

Follow up:

the tree, lights, heirloom decorations, cookies in glass covered dishes…these happen to be all normal characteristics of the season that can cause an autistic child to go into sensory overload. just when we thought we had pretty much stopped the headbanging, the screaming, and the hand flapping; the holiday fan fare proved to be a bit to much. i blame myself. i set out decorations that he couldn’t resist wanting to touch and play with. then i was constantly telling and then yelling “no!”. then the tantrums. four or five heirlooms got broken and he got sick once from eating to many cookies behind our backs.

but, i will not stop decorating or baking. remember, we have a “typical” daughter that loved every minute of it. so, i will have to find compromises. i will not bring out all of the heirlooms next year; and the ones i do bring out will be placed way out of reach. the tree will be decorated in cheap ornaments i could care less about if they get broken (and i will keep some backup ornaments). i will only put out a couple of cookies at a time and maybe i will wait a little closer to christmas to put the tree up. well, see how things go over the course of the new year.

in the meantime, the babies loved their gifts and the heirlooms were put up today! happy holidays everyone!