Waiting for Christmas....

It's here. It's finally December. Time to face up to the encroaching madness of Christmas as the frantic countdown begins!  I've admittedly being burying my head in the sand in this matter,  not wanting to face up to all that has to be done. No more.... time to face the fear and do it anyway!

It's actually a strangely calming feeling now that it is December. I realise of course  that I couldn't possibly have faced it all in November, sure that's way too soon to be even thinking of Christmas at all. Especially in the relatively balmy November weather conditions we enjoyed.

I kick start my Christmas-to-do-list every year by buying my Christmas cards, postage stamps and wrapping paper first. I don't know why but doing so makes me feel positively virtuous. Of course, it is always weeks before pen is put to card, stamp meets envelope or any presents are bought to complement the wrapping paper!

The other thing I buy first is a very important and by now totally traditional, item...... the Advent Calender.

And yes, our Advent Calender is always chocolate and I make no apologies for that!

My almost 12 year old boy awoke this morning and, knowing it was December 1st,  got dressed in double-quick time as he guessed what awaited him downstairs.

You see to most, Advent Calenders are something that herald the oncoming spirit of Christmas and yes, I  know, ideally they are not about chocolate at all.

To others though, the simple Advent Calender you see pictured above can be so much more....

It was about 7 years ago when I made this amazing discovery. As we all know delayed gratification is SO hard for children on the Autistic Spectrum and for those who 'get' Santa and all the present getting part, waiting four long weeks can be interminable. When you have a 5 year old who has not only to deal with waiting for Santa but also for his birthday three days previously, then you've got a problem of epic meltdown proportions on your hands!!

I got to thinking, 7 years ago, about how I could possibly solve this problem. I mean, we had schedules for daily activities, monthly activities, holidays, good behaviour... you name it and we had a schedule for it. Could I make up a special Christmas one I wondered? Then, whilst doing the weekly grocery  shopping I noticed the very under-estimated Advent Calenders on the shelves and had a major Epiphany. No, there were no angels singing-on-high....well, maybe there were but if so they were singing about a possible peace in our little world as opposed to the greater world in general. I snapped up that chocolate calender and brought it home feeling very excited!

It was a huge success as my son took to it with interest and realisation. He could clearly 'see' what mum meant by saying 'we must wait' and the two important dates of  the 22nd and 25th were clearly marked for him to work towards.

The Advent Calender became the Visual Christmas Schedule.

Of course,  if  he did 'good waiting' for the calender every morning then the chocolate piece became the token to reward the requested behaviour. Which in turn meant that he got a sticker or check mark on the weekly  reward  schedule.

The Advent Calender became the Reward Token for good behaviour.

Self-limiting,  for various sensory and anxiety related issues,  around mealtimes especially breakfast was a real dilemma. That little tiny piece of chocolate augmented his meagre breakfast of petits filous and juice and meant that he went to school with just one more tiny morsel of food in his tummy.

The Advent Calender became breakfast. Sad, I know but needs must!

Nowadays, as I previously reported, we do delayed gratification very well indeed so our Advent Calender is just for fun and part of our Christmas tradition.

These days the Advent Calender doesn't have to be all about chocolate. A good facebook friend has found the ideal Calender for her son. It's the Lego Advent Calender and could be a real incentive, I think,  for a lot of children with Autism. It's expensive though, but it IS lego!

This got me to thinking. There is quite a big marketing niche here to create Advent Calenders for children with Autism, that do so much more than they say on the tin. Lego, Thomas the Tank for example. It doesn't have to be all about corporate money making either. Companies could use their creative expertise at a reduced ( i.e. none?) cost to help children with autism cope with waiting for Christmas, raise awareness and even raise money for an Autism charity!

Food for thought... or perhaps it's already been done?


Anyway.... Happy December everyone. Hope your preparations go well.

xx