This is my fourth year at the Montessori center and therefore my fourth Christmas learning about the Nutcracker. I remembered watching it as a child in this post last year. I saw it performed at least twice, but not within the last twenty years. I have about twenty friends who were in it as children and about twenty more friends whose children are performing in it now, but I'm good to get my three to do the Christmas pageant. I'm not pressing my luck with a ballet in downtown New Haven.
As I said, I watched the play on PBS and twice on stage. I never knew the details of it my sons seems to have down. Forget Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort or Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. My boys want to play Nutcracker/Mouse King. Does this make the violence more acceptable? Is this proof that boys will find a way to thwart my attempts at making them less aggressive towards each other? Every time I turn around they have turned something into two swords and are humming Tchaikovsky while they whack each other. "It's culture mommy! Be proud of us!"
To be honest, I am kind of proud. I love it when they hum classical music in the back of the car, but it gets a little frustrating when the older one tells the younger one "your beat is off-it's blah blah blah..." I couldn't tell a difference between the two. I don't think I can sing "Happy Birthday to You" in tune. My children can hum the Nutcracker.
My kids can relate to the irritation and jealousy with a sibling. They get it when Fritz breaks Clara's Nutcracker. Again, this isn't permission to not have respect for a brother or sister's personal space or belongings because it is done to classical music. It's just one more example of how it has always happened and always will.
They have a gift for pulling Nutcracker trivia out of their heads at just the right moment. My three year old will see one at the grocery store: "Look Mommy! There's a Nutcracker! Now we need Clara and a Sugar Plumb Fairy!" My ability to fool strangers in a frozen food section is amazing. :0)
I heard Kenneth tell a girl at his public school, "No, Clara is not a princess. She is not in Disney. SHE is a little girl in a ballet and sometimes her name is Marie." One of these days he will learn to share information only when asked. Well, his mother hasn't learned that yet....
Tonight for their Friday night movie, they asked to watch a version of the ballet and I let them. All three of them watched it and no one appeared bored. Sure enough at bedtime, my tough middle man freaked out that the Mouse King was after him. I thought he was putting me on until I realized he was sweating.
OK, this is wonderful. Just wonderful. He has seen all eight Harry Potters and we only skip the snake scenes. I think he was in the room for a couple of superhero movies. I have a feeling he has seen all three Indiana Jones movies, but The Mouse King from the Nutcracker Ballet is making him shake? Did he get a hold of my copy of The Black Swan?
I used my "Mommy Force," and it worked:
"Honey, Clara knocked The Mouse King out with her slipper, would you like a shoe in case he comes back?"
"More than one, please."
Now my son is sleeping with three pairs of shoes in his bed just in case the Mouse King decides to come get him. I hope this is not at three o'clock in the morning and little brother ends up with a goose egg for fear of a rodent.
Every year and every season brings something new to learn from a classic. I can't wait to watch the Nutcracker again....
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Day 8:The Office and the Christmas Party
The Office is the only show I watch on regular television consistently-everything else is on cable.
The very first Christmas episode aired in December of 2005 when Kenneth was two weeks old. They were doing a "Yankee Swap" for an iPod.
Switching gifts like that is not the southern way. There have been some Christmas exchanges in my life where I would open a gift and I had no idea what the other person was thinking. I just smiled and said thank you. As I held my tiny newborn baby and his two year old sister slept in her bed, I knew that I would never have to worry about doing a Yankee Swap or a Yankee anything for that matter. North Carolina was and always would be my home...
Ha ha ha life.
The first time I went to a Yankee swap it was a "Tacky Re-Gift Party." I thought the tacky part was doing the re-gift, not the actual item. I brought something nice to exchange...
I have some very memorable moments from The Office Christmas parties:
1) Michael dressed as Jesus trying to get compete with Phyllis as Santa.
2) Michael photo shopping himself into his girlfriend's Christmas card.
3) Jim giving Kelly the Edward Cullen vampire poster!!!!
4) Phyllis planned a Moroccan Christmas party...
I'm really tired tonight, so everyone, take a moment to reflect on your favorite "The Office" holiday moment or another holiday episode from a different sitcom....
What's your favorite?
The very first Christmas episode aired in December of 2005 when Kenneth was two weeks old. They were doing a "Yankee Swap" for an iPod.
Switching gifts like that is not the southern way. There have been some Christmas exchanges in my life where I would open a gift and I had no idea what the other person was thinking. I just smiled and said thank you. As I held my tiny newborn baby and his two year old sister slept in her bed, I knew that I would never have to worry about doing a Yankee Swap or a Yankee anything for that matter. North Carolina was and always would be my home...
Ha ha ha life.
The first time I went to a Yankee swap it was a "Tacky Re-Gift Party." I thought the tacky part was doing the re-gift, not the actual item. I brought something nice to exchange...
I have some very memorable moments from The Office Christmas parties:
1) Michael dressed as Jesus trying to get compete with Phyllis as Santa.
2) Michael photo shopping himself into his girlfriend's Christmas card.
3) Jim giving Kelly the Edward Cullen vampire poster!!!!
4) Phyllis planned a Moroccan Christmas party...
I'm really tired tonight, so everyone, take a moment to reflect on your favorite "The Office" holiday moment or another holiday episode from a different sitcom....
What's your favorite?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Day 7: Christmas at Hogwarts year 2
People who participate in the tradition don't just roll out of bed on December 25th and have it going on. It's a process and sometimes it starts in October. First you make your list, then you do your shopping, wrapping, your card mailing, and gift shipping. Where are you going to eat and how do you divide up your time? This isn't something you tend to do alone either-family and friends play a big part in the action and plan.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry are a family by now. This holiday season, they have a fairly complex and adult plan that they have to carry out on Christmas day. They want to interview Draco Malfoy for information about the Chamber of Secrets and they have to do it as Slytherins.
This involves making a difficult potion that will transform them into other people. First, they get Lockhart to write a permission slip for a restricted potion book. Then they steal the ingredients from Snape of all professors-this includes setting off a firecracker in the dungeon. After that they have to brew it in a broken girl's bathroom toilet so they won't get caught. Finally, on Christmas day after yet another marvelous dinner that will never come from my kitchen, the Polyjuice potion is ready and they can be Slytherins. With the exception of the cat hair, which honestly, I think was a good thing anyway because we don't know what Malfoy would have said with Millicent around, all went smoothly and according to plan!
On a mundane Muggle level, wouldn't you love to have a sip of Polyjuice Potion on Christmas day? Go sit next to your grandmother pretending to be your mom? Get the goods from one cousin about another? What are they going to say about you? Do you really know who you are talking to when you start telling a story?
On another level, "Operation Polyjuice Potion" is an example of how much time and effort we should put into the Advent season. All the planning of the menus, the gifts, the visits-it all comes together when we get to Christmas day. Just as it comes together in chapter 12 when we see Harry and Ron turn into Crabbe and Goyle.
Have a method, have a vision, have a direction. I don't even let my children rush opening a Christmas card. We see where it is from, open it together, and say something nice about the people in the pictures. :0)
The result, just as it was for the Trio in the book, is valuable information that you didn't have before and you are going to need later!
Now I must go hide my elf..I wonder if she has ever met Dobby, Kreacher, or Winky....
Hermione, Ron, and Harry are a family by now. This holiday season, they have a fairly complex and adult plan that they have to carry out on Christmas day. They want to interview Draco Malfoy for information about the Chamber of Secrets and they have to do it as Slytherins.
This involves making a difficult potion that will transform them into other people. First, they get Lockhart to write a permission slip for a restricted potion book. Then they steal the ingredients from Snape of all professors-this includes setting off a firecracker in the dungeon. After that they have to brew it in a broken girl's bathroom toilet so they won't get caught. Finally, on Christmas day after yet another marvelous dinner that will never come from my kitchen, the Polyjuice potion is ready and they can be Slytherins. With the exception of the cat hair, which honestly, I think was a good thing anyway because we don't know what Malfoy would have said with Millicent around, all went smoothly and according to plan!
On a mundane Muggle level, wouldn't you love to have a sip of Polyjuice Potion on Christmas day? Go sit next to your grandmother pretending to be your mom? Get the goods from one cousin about another? What are they going to say about you? Do you really know who you are talking to when you start telling a story?
On another level, "Operation Polyjuice Potion" is an example of how much time and effort we should put into the Advent season. All the planning of the menus, the gifts, the visits-it all comes together when we get to Christmas day. Just as it comes together in chapter 12 when we see Harry and Ron turn into Crabbe and Goyle.
Have a method, have a vision, have a direction. I don't even let my children rush opening a Christmas card. We see where it is from, open it together, and say something nice about the people in the pictures. :0)
The result, just as it was for the Trio in the book, is valuable information that you didn't have before and you are going to need later!
Now I must go hide my elf..I wonder if she has ever met Dobby, Kreacher, or Winky....
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Day 6: Christmas at Hogwarts year 1
It's no secret or surprise to anyone that I am a Harry Potter freak. That's really all I have to say unless this is your first time stumbling upon this blog so let me just say the main point: Second baby-labor-Goblet of Fire movie. Now I'll move on.
Each year in the novels, Harry celebrated Christmas. With each year came a different lesson or realization about his life and what he was meant to do with his abilities. JK Rowling was excellent all the way through, but she definitely made Christmas pivotal each time.
This go round I want to reflect on his first year at Hogwarts, when he was eleven. This was the first year he had a real Christmas after celebrating it for ten years with the Dursleys (shudder).
It was a no brainer for him to spend it at Hogwarts when other wizarding children were looking forward to the comforts of home. Hogwarts was his home. This was the first time we as readers got to see how Christmas was spent in the wizarding world.
Harry woke up Christmas morning and couldn't believe he actually had presents, as he had never had any before in his life. I think of all the things my children receive from both sides of their families and I think of all the gifts Harry must have had to watch Dudley open year after year and I am totally disgusted by the 50-pence piece he opens from his aunt and uncle. That would be about a dollar right now. This makes the first Christmas even more wonderful for him as he looks at the foot of his bed and sees owl delivered "parcels" to open.
This was the first time we got to see Molly Weasley's pure gift for motherhood:
Ron: "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and-oh, no," (he groaned,) "She's made you a Weasley sweater."
Ron is always embarrassed by how little money his parents have, but to Harry, Ron is one of the richest people on earth. The Dursleys had a gorgeous home and showered their son with gifts, but never would anyone have a tradition such as hand knitting a sweater. Molly made one for me too! My children know in case of emergency, I'll make sure they are all three safe, and then grab it! Molly should have written a parenting book. I'd read it. I wish I could channel her.
His second precious gift was the invisibility cloak that had belonged to his father. That will be very important in the future, but for right now, at age eleven, he was handed a possession of a parent that he never got to know. In a way, that allows his father to be with him when he goes on adventures at night and sneaks through the library, runs away from Fluffy the three headed dog, and watches Hagrid hatch a dragon egg. He yearns for his parents while sitting in front of the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that shows you what your heart wants), not knowing that he has his dad with him the whole time.
The Christmas dinner isn't quite something I could replicate:
A hundred fat, roasted turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick rich gravy and cranberry sauce.....
I would have to place the order very early at the gourmet market to get that catered!
And dear Dumbledore, telling Harry to stay away from the mirror and fibbing that he wanted a pair of socks when he looked into it. We know later that Dumbledore wanted what a Harry wanted: a whole and happy family. Isn't that all anyone wants at the end of any day? To be whole and happy?
What did we learn from Christmas that first year at Hogwarts? It's the time we put into a gift and the memory of who it belonged to that matters more than how flashy and easy it was to obtain. Harry relished that sweater and used that cloak until the very end.
Think about your gifts this year.....
Each year in the novels, Harry celebrated Christmas. With each year came a different lesson or realization about his life and what he was meant to do with his abilities. JK Rowling was excellent all the way through, but she definitely made Christmas pivotal each time.
This go round I want to reflect on his first year at Hogwarts, when he was eleven. This was the first year he had a real Christmas after celebrating it for ten years with the Dursleys (shudder).
It was a no brainer for him to spend it at Hogwarts when other wizarding children were looking forward to the comforts of home. Hogwarts was his home. This was the first time we as readers got to see how Christmas was spent in the wizarding world.
Harry woke up Christmas morning and couldn't believe he actually had presents, as he had never had any before in his life. I think of all the things my children receive from both sides of their families and I think of all the gifts Harry must have had to watch Dudley open year after year and I am totally disgusted by the 50-pence piece he opens from his aunt and uncle. That would be about a dollar right now. This makes the first Christmas even more wonderful for him as he looks at the foot of his bed and sees owl delivered "parcels" to open.
This was the first time we got to see Molly Weasley's pure gift for motherhood:
Ron: "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and-oh, no," (he groaned,) "She's made you a Weasley sweater."
Ron is always embarrassed by how little money his parents have, but to Harry, Ron is one of the richest people on earth. The Dursleys had a gorgeous home and showered their son with gifts, but never would anyone have a tradition such as hand knitting a sweater. Molly made one for me too! My children know in case of emergency, I'll make sure they are all three safe, and then grab it! Molly should have written a parenting book. I'd read it. I wish I could channel her.
His second precious gift was the invisibility cloak that had belonged to his father. That will be very important in the future, but for right now, at age eleven, he was handed a possession of a parent that he never got to know. In a way, that allows his father to be with him when he goes on adventures at night and sneaks through the library, runs away from Fluffy the three headed dog, and watches Hagrid hatch a dragon egg. He yearns for his parents while sitting in front of the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that shows you what your heart wants), not knowing that he has his dad with him the whole time.
The Christmas dinner isn't quite something I could replicate:
A hundred fat, roasted turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick rich gravy and cranberry sauce.....
I would have to place the order very early at the gourmet market to get that catered!
And dear Dumbledore, telling Harry to stay away from the mirror and fibbing that he wanted a pair of socks when he looked into it. We know later that Dumbledore wanted what a Harry wanted: a whole and happy family. Isn't that all anyone wants at the end of any day? To be whole and happy?
What did we learn from Christmas that first year at Hogwarts? It's the time we put into a gift and the memory of who it belonged to that matters more than how flashy and easy it was to obtain. Harry relished that sweater and used that cloak until the very end.
Think about your gifts this year.....
Monday, December 5, 2011
Day 5: Why I Christmas Shop at the Independent Book Store...
I love to read and I always have. I'll read almost anything. I could spend hours in Cary, NC or Pittsburgh, PA combing the aisles of a huge chain bookstore. For my birthday, for Christmas, for Mother's Day...I want books!!!! I'll read a good memoir like Angela's Ashes or a classic like East of Eden. I'll read a Stephen King novel, a John Grisham court drama, I'll read Isabel Allende in her original Spanish language. I'll read the Twilight novels and I won't hide them.
I used to be the Grinch that stole the Independent bookstore. I wanted the book I wanted when I wanted it and I wanted to skim it while I sipped my over priced cup of coffee. This could be Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down on my 28th birthday. This could be The Red Dragon on a snow day in North Carolina because we didn't go to school when there was an inch on the ground. This could be The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time, which by the way, I read before I had a clue I was going to have two children on the spectrum. I wanted to read what I wanted to read and if dishes were in the sink, so be them.
Then I moved to the shoreline.....
Breakwater Books is a teeny weeny independent bookstore on the green. Everything is on the green. I tried to go in there but I have three children and three children in a tiny store is asking for trouble. So now I save my trips there for special days when I am child free and have a moment to myself. When I can't avoid it, I call ahead and the women that work there pull what I need so I can run in, threaten the children not to touch anything, and get out. It's a good system.
What used to annoy me was the wait for the books. I would go looking for something specific and they would have to order it from the warehouse. Two days later it would be in. Once I got the call in the coatroom of my son's preschool and dragged all three over there immediately because I really wanted that book. So I was really irritated for a long time that this was my outlet to the book world. I wasn't ready to read online. I already work online. I need my books just a little bit longer.
Then something happened to make me change the way I view an Independent bookstore forever.
They mailed me a letter! A real letter in my mailbox and I can't remember the last time I got one of those! When I moved I changed my phone number and forgot to give it to them.
Here is my special note that I will treasure forever:
YEAH!!! My Sweet Valley High book was in! Who read those in middle school in the 80s and high school in the 90s? In 5th and 6th grade we could divide ourselves up into girls that were allowed to read them and girls that were not. My friend Laura had all of them-my friend Elizabeth had to sneak them. I'll bet many a boy used the book covers for something else.....
If a big chain couldn't reach me, they would have put the book back on the shelf. If Amazon had delivered it to the wrong place, then one of my neighbors might just read what happened to the Sweet Valley Twins ten years later. But this little store took the time to send me a note to come get my smut!!!! I'll love them forever now!
By the way-THE BOOK WAS AWESOME!!! The whole crew is back and although they are adults they are still the same and you wouldn't believe what some of them are up to!
For Christmas this year, I'm not shopping at a big book store. My children always get some books from me for Christmas, and they are coming from Breakwater. Actually, they get a book for most minor holidays, but anyway....
And if you want to hear more about the Sweet Valley Twins let me know, I promise I won't tell you asked!
I used to be the Grinch that stole the Independent bookstore. I wanted the book I wanted when I wanted it and I wanted to skim it while I sipped my over priced cup of coffee. This could be Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down on my 28th birthday. This could be The Red Dragon on a snow day in North Carolina because we didn't go to school when there was an inch on the ground. This could be The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time, which by the way, I read before I had a clue I was going to have two children on the spectrum. I wanted to read what I wanted to read and if dishes were in the sink, so be them.
Then I moved to the shoreline.....
Breakwater Books is a teeny weeny independent bookstore on the green. Everything is on the green. I tried to go in there but I have three children and three children in a tiny store is asking for trouble. So now I save my trips there for special days when I am child free and have a moment to myself. When I can't avoid it, I call ahead and the women that work there pull what I need so I can run in, threaten the children not to touch anything, and get out. It's a good system.
What used to annoy me was the wait for the books. I would go looking for something specific and they would have to order it from the warehouse. Two days later it would be in. Once I got the call in the coatroom of my son's preschool and dragged all three over there immediately because I really wanted that book. So I was really irritated for a long time that this was my outlet to the book world. I wasn't ready to read online. I already work online. I need my books just a little bit longer.
Then something happened to make me change the way I view an Independent bookstore forever.
They mailed me a letter! A real letter in my mailbox and I can't remember the last time I got one of those! When I moved I changed my phone number and forgot to give it to them.
Here is my special note that I will treasure forever:
If a big chain couldn't reach me, they would have put the book back on the shelf. If Amazon had delivered it to the wrong place, then one of my neighbors might just read what happened to the Sweet Valley Twins ten years later. But this little store took the time to send me a note to come get my smut!!!! I'll love them forever now!
By the way-THE BOOK WAS AWESOME!!! The whole crew is back and although they are adults they are still the same and you wouldn't believe what some of them are up to!
For Christmas this year, I'm not shopping at a big book store. My children always get some books from me for Christmas, and they are coming from Breakwater. Actually, they get a book for most minor holidays, but anyway....
And if you want to hear more about the Sweet Valley Twins let me know, I promise I won't tell you asked!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Day 4: The Second Sunday in Advent Crazies...
Over and over again we are told to slow down and reflect on the true meaning of the season.
I have come to the decision that is not possible to "slow down" during Advent.
Advent is for "The Crazies"
For the last eight years in two different states I have taught the middle school Sunday school class. This keeps happening for two reasons: 1) I LOVE that age group and 2) No one else rarely volunteers to take them. All the kids usually show up because one of their favorite things is to give me my football lesson. I had no idea that "6 and 3"or whatever meant wins and losses.
The readings today were the biggies from Isaiah and Mark about (drum roll): "Prepare ye the way of the Lord."
My southern roots always imagine a scary looking prophet screaming at us to "PREPARE THE WAY!"
OK, I'll get ready....
To me preparing the way looks like this:
Did we unplug the lights on the Christmas tree before we left the house...I signed up for two dozen brownies...Kenneth's class wants to hear about Christmas in Barcelona...Frances needs a wrapped surprise for show and tell...where is the paper and the boys used all the scotch tape to decorate the living room and the scissors are for children I can't get them to cut...Did the third one need anything? I don't think so, let me check his folder one more time...there is a paper Gingerbread man that needs to be decorated...maybe I shouldn't have checked his bag....Do your boys want to be cows, donkeys or sheep? The costume is pretty much the same just a different color... practice Away in a Manger at home and please don't re-write it in church... is this list for my own personal three children or the ones in my Sunday school class....write it all down on a calendar somewhere. The youth group still has five more wreaths to sell please make sure they do it.
These are the Advent Crazies. This is part of "preparing the way." This is part of raising your child to keep celebrating Christmas in the future.
By all means, slow down during Epiphany just to make sure you really have one. Take all the time you want during Lent-that is what it is there for. But Advent is and always will be busy.
Enjoy your preparation!
I have come to the decision that is not possible to "slow down" during Advent.
Advent is for "The Crazies"
For the last eight years in two different states I have taught the middle school Sunday school class. This keeps happening for two reasons: 1) I LOVE that age group and 2) No one else rarely volunteers to take them. All the kids usually show up because one of their favorite things is to give me my football lesson. I had no idea that "6 and 3"or whatever meant wins and losses.
The readings today were the biggies from Isaiah and Mark about (drum roll): "Prepare ye the way of the Lord."
My southern roots always imagine a scary looking prophet screaming at us to "PREPARE THE WAY!"
OK, I'll get ready....
To me preparing the way looks like this:
Did we unplug the lights on the Christmas tree before we left the house...I signed up for two dozen brownies...Kenneth's class wants to hear about Christmas in Barcelona...Frances needs a wrapped surprise for show and tell...where is the paper and the boys used all the scotch tape to decorate the living room and the scissors are for children I can't get them to cut...Did the third one need anything? I don't think so, let me check his folder one more time...there is a paper Gingerbread man that needs to be decorated...maybe I shouldn't have checked his bag....Do your boys want to be cows, donkeys or sheep? The costume is pretty much the same just a different color... practice Away in a Manger at home and please don't re-write it in church... is this list for my own personal three children or the ones in my Sunday school class....write it all down on a calendar somewhere. The youth group still has five more wreaths to sell please make sure they do it.
These are the Advent Crazies. This is part of "preparing the way." This is part of raising your child to keep celebrating Christmas in the future.
By all means, slow down during Epiphany just to make sure you really have one. Take all the time you want during Lent-that is what it is there for. But Advent is and always will be busy.
Enjoy your preparation!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Day 3: The 2011 Tree lighting
While I am two months into my fourth year in this town, last night was my second "Tree Lighting."
Last year's post is here.
Pamplona has the Running of the Bulls, Guilford has a tree lighting.
Pretty much the entire town shows up on the green to watch the tree lights come on after a countdown. It is a cool thing that I never witnessed growing up in North Carolina. That isn't to say they don't do it anywhere there, it just means I never saw it happen until I came here. It is awesome and I love it, but it is one of those things that goes against the spectrum.
What is working against the spectrum:
It's crowded.
It's cold.
It's pitch black.
It's loud.
But the good news is, life in this town doesn't change. Therefore, if we go every year, it's routine. The annual tree lighting is part of who we are as members of this community. With my daughter's form of ASD, the more we do something, the more we talk about it, the better prepared she is. When she is prepared, an event will be much easier for all involved. She also thrives on a feeling of pride and accomplishment.
She knows we are going and we start talking about it before Thanksgiving. We practice in the living room. Her brother crawls behind the couch, they sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," they count to ten, and then he plugs in our artificial tree. Then all three of them clap and shout hurray. They never get tired of doing this.
Last year my daughter stayed on the church parking lot. This year, because of our practice and familiarity with the event, she made it onto the green. She willingly walked around with some family friends. I swear if I had known the role they were going to play in my life I would have made them my baby's God parents. Unfortunately, you can't see the future that specifically.
When she had had enough, she asked to go to church. I was very proud of her for trying. She happily watched the lighting from the wreath sale, eating marshmallows and laughing with some friends from her Sunday school class.
Maybe next year she will stand on the green with all our friends and neighbors and do the count down. Maybe one day she might be on the stage singing a Christmas carol if she takes chorus in middle school. If she doesn't, she knows what to do other than scream and roll around on the floor.
She could give a lesson to some grown women I know......
Guilford lit the tree-let the holidays begin!
Last year's post is here.
Pamplona has the Running of the Bulls, Guilford has a tree lighting.
Pretty much the entire town shows up on the green to watch the tree lights come on after a countdown. It is a cool thing that I never witnessed growing up in North Carolina. That isn't to say they don't do it anywhere there, it just means I never saw it happen until I came here. It is awesome and I love it, but it is one of those things that goes against the spectrum.
What is working against the spectrum:
It's crowded.
It's cold.
It's pitch black.
It's loud.
But the good news is, life in this town doesn't change. Therefore, if we go every year, it's routine. The annual tree lighting is part of who we are as members of this community. With my daughter's form of ASD, the more we do something, the more we talk about it, the better prepared she is. When she is prepared, an event will be much easier for all involved. She also thrives on a feeling of pride and accomplishment.
She knows we are going and we start talking about it before Thanksgiving. We practice in the living room. Her brother crawls behind the couch, they sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," they count to ten, and then he plugs in our artificial tree. Then all three of them clap and shout hurray. They never get tired of doing this.
Last year my daughter stayed on the church parking lot. This year, because of our practice and familiarity with the event, she made it onto the green. She willingly walked around with some family friends. I swear if I had known the role they were going to play in my life I would have made them my baby's God parents. Unfortunately, you can't see the future that specifically.
When she had had enough, she asked to go to church. I was very proud of her for trying. She happily watched the lighting from the wreath sale, eating marshmallows and laughing with some friends from her Sunday school class.
Maybe next year she will stand on the green with all our friends and neighbors and do the count down. Maybe one day she might be on the stage singing a Christmas carol if she takes chorus in middle school. If she doesn't, she knows what to do other than scream and roll around on the floor.
She could give a lesson to some grown women I know......
Guilford lit the tree-let the holidays begin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)