Happy/Merry Everything - ChristmaHanuKwanzikah

Ok, because I'm totally overloaded on Political Correctness in general, and especially the whole holiday correctness, I want to wish everyone a Happy/Merry Everything. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah (I KNOW I spelled that wrong, sorry), or Kwanzaa, this is a very special season for almost all of us. We celebrate Christ, light, family - all in all, whatever the holiday, we are celebrating miracles. In truth, regardless of religious affiliation, I believe that we are all each others' miracles.

I started this blog, good grief, back in March or April. In just these last 8 or 9 months, I have met some wonderful people and children who are most certainly miracles. We all celebrate each other. We cheer our success stories, pray for miracles when others need them most, and have formed our own "family". Isn't that wonderful? We can celebrate THAT together. We may not share the same year end holidays, but we can celebrate being our own family of miracles together.

I'm fairly certain that the next few days of "out of routine" is going to be incredibly taxing and difficult, especially for those of us with kids on the spectrum. SmallBoy and I sat down and made a schedule for the really messed up days coming up. For the times that we didn't really know what was going on and when, we left the time blank. I taught him about "ish"-time. He thought that was rather hilarious. We wrote in where things were 99%, "this may change", so that even if it seemed absolutely positive that what was on his schedule was going to happen, there was still room to expect change.

I know that despite the planning, the explaining, the flexibility, things will still be difficult. Even the most scheduled and routine day will still end up in exhaustion for parents and kids. Exhausted ASD kids. Can I tell you though, God, it's so worth it! My kids were with Ex last Christmas morning - our first in our new house, so I didn't get to see their faces. This year, even though Christmas Eve is going to be crazy and Christmas Day is going to be hectic, we will all be having our first Christmas as a family, a new family, together in this house. Despite all of the stress, and all of the upset of routine, that moment alone will be worth it. I will be in MY home with MY children and MY husband. At that moment, nothing else matters except that gratitude that I have for all of my blessings.

So whatever holiday you celebrate, no matter who you celebrate with, or where, expect and accept that our kids will be pooped, that we will be just totally wiped out - - - and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Happy/Merry Everything to all of you! Tell me what your plans are. I'd love to hear them...whatever you celebrate!!!!