Archive for December, 2010

I love the season of Christmas. I love to anticipate the cards and decorations. I love the fact that this is my FREE time. Yep, you heard it right.  I am FREE to daily declare my appreciation to God, and to the world,  for HIS gift to me. Somehow like the game Monopoly, I feel like I have a ‘get out of my rut’ free card.  I get to appreciate many people who I have pretty much ignored throughout the year. Having a child with special needs puts my life in a category all of its own. 

I get letters from others catching me up on the growth of their children and their achievements.  How do I tell them I am still working with my child to want to say good-night to me with a hug?  

Do I think they will remember I started working on that goal 14 years ago? 

Do they save my Christmas notes???

I was so energized and encouraged when I read from the Bible about Mary, Jesus’s mom in the book of Luke. When Jesus was born shepherds came; a bright star led them to the place of his birth.  After Jesus was born she ‘pondered these things in her heart’.   I looked up that word, ponder, and it meant ‘to weigh’.  She was weighing all she had come to know about her son since his inception.   

This made me realize how I  love to ponder. I love to be free from worry or fret. I love to focus on what God will do next.  Thinking on what has come and gone in my life and what will arrive with the next ‘ wave.’ 

My life has been a series of ‘waves’. There are times when I feel sorry for myself, knowing my old age will come with a companion known as my son. There are times when I am so proud of who he is and who he has become, despite the cruelty of others. There are times when I am so tired of saying the same things, morning and night to accomplish the simplest of tasks.

Will Friday ever be anything else other than Pizza night?

Yet today I realize I am in the greatest of company when I ponder. I am thankful to God for a life of pondering. There are many times I am amazed at what I could have never thought to ponder.  I am weighing my reality and it is weightless when I ask God to hold it! 

Thnks for listening, Sharon.

1. Use a calendar to prepare the child for Christmas. Things to include: holiday time from school & when school starts, days visitors will arrive, the day decorations and the Christmas tree will be put up and most importantly when and where you will open presents. Highlighting these times on the calendar will help your child prepare for the time spent away from school, and changes in routine, and home.

2. As much as possible keep a child’s routine consistent. For example, if the child uses any visual communication tools, continue to use them as much as possible.

3. Include the child in preparing for Christmas. Look at Christmas decorations or trees together. Allow the child to assist in decorating or watch as decorations are put up. Allowing the child to participate in decorating may prevent negative reactions to changes in the environment.

4. Decorating can be highly stimulating and stressful. To make it easier for the child you may want to put up a few decorations each day to ease into the Christmas season.

5. Keep this stimulation to a minimum. Minimize decorating, less lights, fewer decorations can help keep the stimulation to a minimum.  Experiment, try using just white Christmas lights, or wrapping presents with solid color Christmas paper.