Naughty or Nice?

Christmas just happened and sure enough the jolly old Santa dropped a bag of lego loot at our house and threw in a couple of board games just to jazz things up a bit.  In the past I welcomed Santa in and I was happy to let the magic happen, but this year I have a slight problem with the big guy.  See, he made my daughter really worried, and he made my son doubt his "niceness."  You don't mess with my kids, even if you are Santa Claus.

  Normally I wouldn't mind a little motivation for my kids to behave but this seemed over the top.  My girl already worries enough about doing something wrong. Perfect is what she strives for and I try my hardest to get her to take life a little less seriously.  So, when mega toy loot was riding on doing the right thing, she got very anxious and worried. She didn't have a scale of what EXACTLY is naughty and what EXACTLY is nice, so she assumed the worst.  Perfection, she even looked back three years prior counting her errors.

Then comes my impulsive, hyper-happy boy.  His heart is good, he is full of love, always looking for ways to help others and spread cheer.  Also, lots of being told "no" "slow down" "you need to think first." "go to your room."  So, if the world of Santa is black and white, naughty or nice, then he is sure to do way more wrongs than right and so must belong on the naughty list.  I tried to assure him that Santa would look at the bigger picture and see how kind and full of love he is.  He seriously doubted me.
 
So, I guess I'm not sure about Santa's list anymore.  I think he needs to learn a little compassion and a lot of grace.  All those Christmas songs threatening that he knows "if you've been good or bad so be good for goodness sake!"   We can't forget that this is a season of celebrating the gift of grace that began with the birth of Jesus. Let's focus on the joy, and the love. After all if we aren't doing that at Christmas then when are we doing it?

Love and Grace Everyday, and especially at Christmas.

Shhhh...

Some mornings, actually most mornings I am running around my house, attempting to feed the kids, pack lunches, get ready, and frantically sounding off tons of requests all on one sentence. I am asking hurried questions like, what do you want for snack today? Did you brush your hair? go feed the dog, oh and did you pack your homework? get your socks on right now and oh your food is ready so go sit down and eat really fast so we aren't late, where are my keys!?   Then, then my daughter sometimes just stares blankly and suddenly says, "huh? What? I forgot what I was supposed to be doing? what did you say?"  
Then I begin to get frustrated and say something like "YOU NEED TO LISTEN!  WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?!!!"

The truth is that she is listening.  She is hearing more than I could ever imagine and my non-stop dialog isn't allowing her to complete the first task I requested or answer the first question. Then throw in all the other noises that happen in a household in the morning (dishes clanging, washing machine running, brother banging into things, etc) and you have a very overloaded kid.  

My husand posted this video on his facebook page about a week ago and I have been wanting to post it here but a cold got the best of me and knocked me into a world of watching movies on netflix and feeling exhausted.   I am back... and with me I bring this video.  

I think for me watching it was another reminder to slow down and be silent sometimes because the world is loud enough for my sweet girl. 

Please watch
Sensory Overload (Interacting With Autism Project)