Christmas - Back to the Basics This Year

 I seem to have an issue with Christmas this year, and I’m not sure why. You know how every year people talk about doing less work and enjoying the holidays more. That is what I’m doing this year, except I keep making adjustments.

I have yet to decorate our house. I’m a little afraid of Josh’s dog and a Christmas tree. I hate undecorating! I’m starting to wonder if I can just not decorate at all. Then I have this nagging voice in the back of my head saying that is wrong. Although they may be teenagers, I still have children, therefore I should decorate. Now I’m just waiting for one of my kids to mention the fact that we have not decorated, and so far nobody has said a word.

Then I thought I was going to get out of teacher gifts. (Not because we don’t appreciate our teachers, just it is a lot of work.) But this weekend Josh mentioned doing gifts for his teacher and then Hailey jumped on board. So yesterday, I quickly made gifts. They took them to school today.

I’m pretty sure I am free of Christmas baking between all of Hailey’s food allergies and some of us on a diet.

The last big Christmas thing at our house (besides Christmas itself and gifts) is our annual Christmas card and letter. I started out saying absolutely no way this year. Then I remembered we have one doctor that it seems to mean a lot to get our card each year. He emails me a thank you, shows it to me when I come to his office, and talks about how so few of his patients send him cards. (You may want to think about sending your doctor a card.) So now I feel compelled to do Christmas cards. Which starts my real problem, it is the same every year. I go through my phone, IPAD, etc. and discover we have taken absolutely no real pictures of our children all year. We have a handful of photographs of injuries, a couple of Ashley sleeping (it happens so rarely, evidently it needs to be captured in photograph), Hailey being weird with friends or shopping. Josh holding his dog, minus a shirt. That is all the pictures! Then I think, how do we go all year without taking pictures, this is ridiculous! So I attempt to take a picture of each child specific for the card, and rediscover why we have no pictures. My family hates having their picture taken with a passion. First, I approach Hailey. She said no thank you. I said fine, I’ll use something I have. She got lucky. She went to a dinner/dance this year and I took one picture of her alone. Focus on her and not the disastrous house around her, please. Next, Ashley, no waking pictures. So I attempt to photograph or torture her, whatever you want to call it. 1 hour, much head banging, biting, yelling and 150 pictures later I have one picture that although she looks angry, it will have to work. I apologized to her and moved on to Josh. It was almost as bad as Ashley. He can’t smile upon command, stand still, or look at a camera. This is why I do not take pictures of my children. It is a horrible process. School pictures go bad, photographers have to give us more than one session, and they are beyond the age of looking cute just because they exist. So this year I am presenting the worst Christmas card pictures I have ever shown because I’m done messing with it. All of this is for one doctor! However, there will be no letter. This is my letter. Everyone is alive and doing great, but may never be photographed again!

I am tired and lazy this year. I’m so glad my kids were too old when the elf on the shelf craze began! Maybe if I can get a really long nap, I will feel better about all of it.

It Has Been Awhile...

I am not even sure where to begin! It has been a long time since I posted and so many changes have occurred. Maybe a quick update on life:

Ashley is 15 years-old and doing well. We have finally got many of her health concerns under control. She is still homeschooled.  She continues to do well with her speech device. We are very excited about the program we have set up for her and the people that work with her. We have always been fortunate to have the right people come along at just the right time. This is especially true as we balance her needs, my center, and two other active children.

Hailey is 14 years-old and entered high school this year. She likes high school better than middle school because she gets interaction with more diverse people and she gets to choose more of her classes. She is doing great in school, and enjoys participating in debate, scholar’s bowl, and tennis. This spring she will try forensics and track. She stays very busy! And she is very much a teenager with all the good (a person with her own thoughts and opinions) and bad (moody, stubborn) that entails!

Josh has had his ups and downs over the years, but is really settling into himself. He is proof positive that hard work and a lot of prayer can go a very long way. After homeschooling last year, he has returned to public school at a different school district and he is thriving. He no longer needs special services. He played football and now basketball, has made new friends, and is keeping excellent grades. It is amazing to see how successful he has become, and we are enjoying him at home too!

My husband started a new job that he really loves a little over a year ago. We took a long, hard road, but life is really good now. I am so thankful and blessed. We have worked so hard to get where we are now, which has made us enjoy it so much more!

I finished my Master’s program in the spring of 2014 and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) in the fall. Together with another autism mother, I have opened a center called Pathways Alternative Center for Education, Inc. (PACE). At PACE we provide services for children with autism and other special needs and support for parents. We are so excited to be able to offer services that up until now have been unavailable in our rural area. It has been a long and tedious road, but I am so excited about PACE. It feels really good to be able to take our personal experience and use it to impact the lives of our families for the better. As much as I love my job, it can be heartbreaking to see children and families struggling. My one hope and prayer is that I can help to make sure that the things that happened to my own son and daughter don’t happen to the children that come to our center.