The holidays are a’comin’…
Ho…Ho…frickin’ Ho.
Technically, it started when it snowed before Halloween. Now, snow in DC always seems like the apocalyptic event the media craves. Even when it was barely a trace (a little more came sliding off our front porch) – you bet your sweet bippy that the meteorologists are out with their fancy computer programs and reporters who drew the short stick were on the Beltway pointing at the minute flakes falling.
Anyway, the media hype totally got to Mayor Bee. That morning he looks out and shouts “SNOW MOMMY SNOW!”. Then pauses and says, “Max and Ruby Christmas DVD”?
Sigh. It has begun, even before Halloween could commence.
On one hand, you want your child to look back on his/her childhood with nice, warm, fuzzy holiday memories. To see the pictures with Santa, the massive amounts of presents, the family parties, baking cookies. You know, the normality of it.
You don’t want to be the Grinch. You don’t want to be the parent who kinda “gives up” after trying to do the “normal” stuff. Because you have tried seeing Santa, and it was a colossal disaster. …continue reading
It’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving. It’s a tradition in my family that we all go to my mother’s house in Vermont for the holiday. In the past 30 years, there have only been three times when she didn’t host the big turkey dinner. Usually, there’s about 30-35 people there – my immediate family, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, friends of second cousins…you have a connection to our family and you’re welcome at the house.
Making 250 mile car trip is always somewhat of an adventure for us. It’s hard for any kid to sit that long, but a five year old with sensory issues can make the car ride incredibly hard. One year, he asked for a “hug” for an hour straight. Factor in food breaks, toilet breaks, coffee breaks and sensory breaks and a four hour ride can sometimes turn into six. Oh yeah, and diaper changing breaks for the three year old too.
Leaving the comforts of our house is somewhat of a challenge. Besides my son’s sensory issues, he has a food intolerance to all products with corn in them (corn syrup, corn starch, dextrose, etc.) so we travel with our own food. Additionally, my husband is a vegan so we need to make sure we have things that he can eat as well. All this makes eating anywhere but home a little dicey.
…continue reading
