Merry Christmas!

The above shot was KC and Rob heading down the stairs from their rooms on Christmas morning. We rose early, the kids were awake at 5:30 but I made them wait till 6 to come downstairs. The photo doesn't capture the eubullient joy that KC had for the holiday this year.  Even Rob was cracking up watching his little brother. "Santa came!  He really really CAME"  he shouted with eyes as big as saucers.  ROFL  K and I said afterward that he acted like a kid in a holiday special on TV.  No one would believe that this was just how he was acting for real!  And was Lissa ever in the on the action this year.  Thank goodness for the color system for the presents as they were little present opening machines, especially the diva princess.

The interesting thing is that all morning long they played really happily with the rather simple toys that we got.  Art supplies, a wooden alphabet train, a glorified game of tiddly winks called Dino Toss.  All extremely low tech!  One of our family traditions is that Santa brings the toys but  everyone gets something handmade from us.  KC and Lissa got aprons for cooking(they cook all the time with us) , Rob got PJ pants, Chet got knitted fingerless gloves.  I got fabric for a gorgeous skirt that K will make me and fingerless gloves out of this cool sueded yarn.  I am sadly not particularly crafty so my handmades for K consisted of the cool personalized baking pan that I saw on the Pioneer Woman website and also a beautiful sequined scarf that I got on an etsy site.

Christmas breakfast was our traditional home made cinnamon buns.  Lunch is sort of catch can--sandwiches and sparkling cider for the kids usually.  We have a bigger meal about 5 and will have a pretty table set for that.  Also I have baked a cake for dessert in KC's beloved new cupcake cake pan.  He has asked Santa for this for 2 years.  Santa couldn't believe he wanted it last year but when it showed up on the list again this year, I guess he figured it was a for real wish!

I was especially proud of Chet who showed genuine happiness at the pillowcases that I helped Lissa and KC make for him.  The white one has snowflakes stamped on it, the pink one (Chet's fave color) has gold peace symbols (also his favorite symbol).  Lots of times, he says a thank you that is almost rote.  Probably  is  rote actually as I think about it.  Lots of autistic people sort of file away "x is expected when y happens" and they just sort of do it and don't feel the things behind the situation that neurotypical people do.  He really seemed to be touched by their gift so that was truly a huge gift to me!

We called my mom and wished her Merry Christmas. She bought herself a new car yesterday and seemed in a better place emotionally.  I am glad she is happier, sad that it took incurring debt for it to be so. I do know that when K's mom died, her father was much the same, buying things all new, like somehow starting fresh took away the pain of the loss.

  When I opened email (which I thankfully did not do before we called to wish her a happy day) I found that she was letting me know that she got the picture of the kids and our Yule card and that she thought it so sad that KC had to try and look like a sick reindeer.  Sigh. Sometimes the fact we live several states away is a very good thing!  LOL