Wow, I am amazed as I am every year at this time that Christmas is here. I know that sounds weird but it seems to me it arrives sooner and sooner each year. due to the stores putting out decorations around the Fourth of July these days. But I think that because so much of the feelings and hopes for a “Happy Holiday” and a “Merry Christmas” are centered around a rush of lights, colors, sounds, smells and required activities that I think I see, to a lesser degree than before, but still see Christmas as as “Oh my God, how will we get Elizabeth to do this activity?” or “How will she do in the big crowd?” “what social story can I use to help guide her behavior?” We have had many a Christmas decorating where Emily was happily hanging ornaments and Elizabeth could not be coaxed from behind a chair in the den. We have had a number of Christmas days that saw Elizabeth asking not once but what felt like 753 times “Time to go home now, right Mom?” Continue reading →