Joining in the toast

Hollis really enjoyed Christmas this year, and was even able to sit at the table to eat Christmas dinner. She toasted the holiday with us, using her own champagne flute. This, of course, was hilarious. We went to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa, and had a lot of fun, and she loved opening gifts (a new thing). It really was a remarkable Christmas in many ways, and we have certainly been given the biggest gift we could ever hope for!

Santa's Little Helper

Hollis helped Santa pick out her gifts today, once we were able to escape the house after our little snowstorm (a foot isn't so bad, is it?). We let her play with the ones she picked herself, and Santa has a couple more waiting under the tree for her for Christmas Day. Funny enough, most of the things she chose were toys we had already had at some point, and were dead from years of love. The kid knows what she likes.

O Christmas Tree

Despite my initial reservations between kid and cat damage, we put up a Christmas tree. I tried to be "smart" about it, so it only has unbreakable lights, garland and ornaments. So, when it goes down, and it almost surely will, nothing will shatter! Hollis is really pleased with it: she can't wait to go and sit by it and play with her toys, and to sneak a pull on the lights when we're not looking.

Here's Hollis looking at the tree with awe, and a video of her playing with one of her old favorite toys, with some assistance from our cat Jasper.

Not a snow bunny

Hollis is a California girl in her heart. She was born there, and only lived there nine months before we moved back to Massachusetts, but I'm convinced she remembers how pleasant the climate was compared to here. The kid didn't even wear socks until we moved, nevermind hats, coats, mittens, etc.

We were outside yesterday, walking from a parking garage to our destination, and it was lightly snowing: very lightly. Hollis had a couple flakes fly in her face and she was ready to turn around and go back to the car. Needless to say, I don't expect to take her sledding anytime soon.

Christmas shopping

Every time we come around to this time of year, I'm filled with a little heartache. Christmas shopping for a child with developmental and physical disabilities is very challenging in a "normal" store. I have shopped for Hollis in the infant toy section for eight years. I have seen the same toys, over and over, changing little from year to year, and wondering if there's anything new I can find that she might enjoy. She has a very limited amount of things she likes, so we continue to repeat the mantra of gift choices - books, magazines, musical toys. We've tried adaptive toys as well, but surprisingly, they are very much like the infant toys available anyway.

Christmas itself has to be pretty low key too. We have put up a tree about 3 times since she was born because she has pulled them down onto herself or broken ornaments by chucking them. She gets overwhelmed when there's a lot of new "stuff" around, hates wrapping paper, and doesn't want to sit and go through the whole presents hoopla anyway. So, we typically spread things out over the course of a few days: give a gift here and there, to gradually introduce her to the new things. We have learned from various meltdowns that this is what works best for her, and everyone is a lot happier at the end of it all.

Squishing Grandparents is fun!

Whether it's squishing Gram with her body weight, or squeezing Dziadzi's nose until it bruises, Hollis thinks grandparent abuse is fun!

Christmas songs

For the traditionalists...Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year".



For the non-traditionalists...Bob Rivers, "I am Santa Claus".