The Christmas period is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the lights, and the possibility of snow. I love all the time you get to spend with family and friends. I love the food and drinks. I also love the scents (the White Company winter candle is my favorite). My older son also loves Christmas, but mostly for the presents. It’s like he competes with himself yearly. He tries to beat his own record of how fast he can open all his presents. And then he sits there and has to watch as his autistic brother slowly opens his first gift.
While I look forward to my Christmas turkey and pigs-in-blankets, the unfamiliar food can cause sensory issues for my son. The holiday gives me a break from my everyday routine. However, this change in routine and structure is hard for him. The chance to catch up with family for me is enjoyable. It brings complex noises from multiple conversations. It also includes the pressure of socializing for him.
So what are our plans to help us ALL enjoy the festive period this year?
The Presents: Last year, my son took 3 days to open his presents. You can imagine this was torture for his brother. Which is fine. This year, we are asking for fewer presents. We will be allowing him to open a few before Christmas. We have also asked for food presents like snacks he really likes, but doesn’t often get. The food snacks can be eaten for a number of weeks during and after the Christmas period. Putting presents in bags with tissue will also help him. The need for fine motor skills can make opening gifts hard.
The Decorations: We are only going to decorate two of the rooms downstairs in our house. This way, some areas are without decorations and feel more familiar to him. The lights on our Christmas tree can be controlled to change the brightness. We can also turn off the flashing function. Unfortunately, the winter candle that I love so much might have to go into work with me.
Planning: We have a wooden Advent calendar. He can use it to help him see how many days it is until Christmas Day. We are planning to meet family and friends for walks outside. This is possible where there are no crowded, noisy buildings. We plan to have guests come over to our house. This way, he can retreat to his bedroom for a quiet, non-Christmas place to relax and recharge when needed. If we visit other people’s houses, we will bring some of his favorite books. We will also bring coloring things to keep him happy.
Routine: We have learnt from past mistakes that changing our son’s schedule doesn’t end up working for any of us. This Christmas, we will try our best to keep his sleep times and bedtime routine consistent. We will make this effort even though we are traveling. We will try to make sure he eats at the same times of day and eats the same kind of food (no Christmas dinner for him), and we are going to even throw in a little schooling. Our son loves to ask ‘whats next‘ to help him understand what is happening for the upcoming week. So we will let him know which guests are coming to visit and when, so that he doesn’t doesn’t have any surprises.
My Christmas may look a little different this year, but his inclusion is much more important.
The Pajama Gang 