Last Party!

Honest, this was the last time the kids opened Christmas presents.  I swear.

We finally made it to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa’s house.  All of us.  Including our family, the Major’s bunch, Grandma, Gichan, Auntie and JW (her boyfriend), Obachan, and the two people who live there…

There were 18 of us.

Yikes.

There was a terrific meal, then Tad recited the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 (courtesy of him memorizing A Charlie Brown Christmas)…

… and then the kids got to open presents.

All the kids got things they loved, but Rerun immediately wanted his new Dinosaur Train book read to him.

Tad got a new copy of a favorite book, Uncover A Shark.  He had a used copy of this and loved it so much that it fell apart.  He was thrilled to have a new copy.  Berry was fascinated with the model of the shark and Tad was more than happy to tell his cousin all about his favorite thing.

I love this next picture, because he is just so earnest in telling Berry all about great white sharks, and Berry is actually paying attention.

And finally, finally, FINALLY, our Christmas celebrations had come to an end.  The funny thing is, having these celebrations as spread out as they were may have actually been better for Tad.  He was able to adapt and adjust with each celebration, and Christmas wasn’t over so fast that my little elf had no time to be upset that it was over.  He was distressed when the tree came down, but mostly because he wanted to see his favorite ornaments.  When I told him that Christmas was over now and the tree needed to come down, he looked at me and said, “Mama, maybe next time?”

“Yes, Tad, Christmas will come again next year,” I promised him.

It’s amazing to me that he can now think of and anticipate the future, and that he is beginning to recall the past.  I am so proud of him.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 12:08 am and is filed under Autism Adventures, Children, Family, Holidays.
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