It's Holiday Time!

Every year we start our Christmas decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. First thing yesterday morning, Michael wanted to put up the tree and go see the winter lights. We explained that we had to clean up the house first, and then start decorating. And before any of that, we had to go to his Craniosacral appointment. He spent most of the appointment explaining that our house is a mess and he had to help clean up before we would put up the Christmas tree. Of course, he had a huge temper tantrum on the way home, so we didn't get as much accomplished yesterday as we had hoped.

Today, we did manage to get the decorations out and the tree up. Steve is still working on the lights, though. My personal goal is to be able to put up the ornaments with Michael tomorrow after school. I have never seen Michael so excited about Christmas. He found a gingerbread man ornament and has been running around the house saying "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" He's absolutely adorable!

There is a huge Winter Lights Festival that we take Michael to every year. He loves going and would go every day if only we let him (and we could afford it). Normally it starts the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, it doesn't start until next Friday. They did have 'preview days' this weekend, but it would be impossible to explain that they were open for two days, and then closed the rest of the week. So, we now have next Friday circled on the calendar and Michael is counting down the days. If anyone from the Festival reads this, please reconsider a season pass?

It really is wonderful to see Michael so excited about Christmas. What's even better is that he doesn't care about presents at all. He just loves the decorations, the snow globes, and spending time with relatives he doesn't get to see that often. After reading about people getting trampled on Black Friday, just spending a little time with him makes me remember all the real joy of the holidays!