I just wanted to share some of my thoughts for Christmas coming up. There are a lot of parents that know this routine of kids becoming so excited. The jumping up and down, nonstop talking about the presents they want (just like us with winning the lotto), eating to much sugar but expecting them to settle down. I see a lot of parents becoming frustrated or annoyed with their children.
Let me explain to you what my fear for this Christmas is. That I don't get any of that from one of my children. I had set myself up last year thinking Sydney was understanding Santa and couldn't wait for Christmas morning. She had the most gifts to open. She was 5 years old and had made progress. Well, Christmas morning she refused to come out or even sit in the next room. She wanted nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas. In fact, her 4 siblings took turns opening up all of her gifts. I knew she had come a long way, but felt very robbed of the feeling you get watching your child open a gift from Santa. Well....we will have next year to try again.
So now we are at next year and Sydney's Birthday is exactly one week before Christmas. This year I decided to do a trial run and invite a couple of really close friends over for a birthday party. The kiddos I invited understand Sydney and it doesn't bother them when we do things a little differently. We played games, pop poppers, made a craft and ate popsicles. Only once did Sydney climb into a locker we had in the garage, which is where we had the party. I did hold my breath while she was in there, but knew it was better to just leave her alone. To my surprise she came out within a couple of minutes and rejoined the party. Now for the real test, opening presents. We sat everyone down and had each child go up one at a time and let her open their gift. We made it through them all. I was so excited about Christmas, now.
On Christmas this year, we only had Sydney and her 2 sisters. I decided that she should only have one gift to open, just in case. She came in and sat down with her sisters. Then waited for her present. I handed her the gift and she opened it. Sydney ended up opening up a lot of my gifts too. It was great to have her stay in the same room. Then want to open up gifts. She didn't care if they were for her or not. She just wanted to tear the wrapping paper off and then would say, "WOW, look at this."
This is going to be the start of a great 2013.
Rachelle
