A Very Lowkey Thanksgiving
Neighbors had inflatable turkeys up in their front yards the day after Halloween and there have been Christmas decorations in Target stores since before then: This gives me the message, holidays coming, do your decorating, buy those cards presents and wrapping paper, figure out your strategy for Black Friday……..
Yes, the holidays are approaching and Charlie, after a very pleasant October in which his teacher wrote one “fantastic day!” email after another, has been having up and down weeks, days, and moments in November. One thing I’ve learned to take into consideration is how the start of the holidays can affect the mood and the behavior of the other children: Charlie is in a self-contained classroom in a public school in our town, but he sees his non-disabled schoolmates regularly and can certainly hear all the noise around him. Far from older notions of autistic children as being “lost in their own worlds,” Charlie is highly aware of what’s going on. He just usually doesn’t use language to tell people that (somewhat as the mother who wrote rap notes) or, if he does, he does not talk about what is bothering him.
We’re spending Thanksgiving at home for the first time in years and I am happily relieved: Charlie can spend the day on a long bike ride, play the piano, poke his nose in the oven where the turkey is roasting, lie on the couch with his big fleece blanket as needed. He has done well wearing a blue blazer and sitting at a table loaded with glass and china in the Thanksgivings we have spent at club with my in-laws: I think I can enjoy the meal a bit more, knowing that I won’t have to be on the lookout for anything flying rather than on a plate (or in a cup). Having read about air travel delays portending sleeping in airports and baggage lost in transit (you can be sure anything that Charlie has to have will be carried on the plane when he and Jim and Charlie and I make our annual trip to California in December), a thoroughly lowkey Thanksgiving seems best—–and the lowkey approach has proved best for Charlie, whatever the holiday.
After all, we’re already running that daily marathon and I’m one for keeping a slow and steady pace. There will be hills if not mountains ahead to climb and a creek, a ditch, a mud puddle to jump over, though these are not yet in view.
We’ll be doing a little carbo-loading tomorrow in preparation……
Photo courtesy of disaster.strikes via Flickr.
9 opinions for A Very Lowkey Thanksgiving
Kathy
Nov 21, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Kristina.
Hope you have a wonderful and relaxing holiday.
Btw, since turkey is not on the menu for you, what will you be having?
Autismville
Nov 21, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Hills are our friends. :)
http://tinyurl.com/28xk7x
We are celebrating Thanksgiving in similar fashion. Our family has a uniform for Thanksgiving: sweat pants and a t-shirt.
At Christmas we take it a step further and keep our pajamas on all day. It’s heaven. :)
Thank you for sharing your time and your writing with all of us.
mcewen
Nov 21, 2007 at 11:00 pm
We now include the Macy’s parade in the background but no-one really is tuned in and there will only be two people eating the turkey.
Happy thanksgiving to all of you and yours
MomtoJBG
Nov 21, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Happy Low-key Thanksgiving!
We are having take-out Thai food with one friend of the family. As low-key as humanly possible.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 21, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Take-out Thai—that sounds just the thing……. I’m roasting a huge pan of…..vegetables. And mashed potatoes (Jim is Irish) and that sticky rice…… One of my students told me he’s going to the parade!
Charlie does like to get dressed—his usual uniform of t-shirt and pants will have to do. Hope we can all keep running together, uphill and when things even out.
Regan
Nov 22, 2007 at 1:25 am
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
This afternoon Eleanor and I had a long lesson on operation of the potato peeler and what are root vegetables–she is an excellent sous chef, and now we are on to how to make a pumpkin pie.
This year we have focussed a lot on schedules and holidays–and when I asked about what happens on Thursday, the answer has been “Thanksgiving”. “And what shall we be cooking up?” “Turkey” (with a grin).
I think that it will be a very good day tomorrow. Hope yours is too :-).
KimJ
Nov 22, 2007 at 4:12 am
Low-key is a good word. I’ll bake a pumpkin pie in the morning. I’ve been baking pumpkin loaves for a month now. So, tomorrow it’s the pie.
Later, we’ll go out for steak and french fries.
Black Friday we’ll go see Enchanted, no shopping.
Daisy
Nov 22, 2007 at 11:18 pm
We have taken to hosting Thanksgiving at our house. Amigo gets involved by helping us plan the meal and actually takes part in making it. This year he helped make the cranberry sauce, the beans, and the French Onion soup appetizer. Beging actuviely involved calms him.
More Good Thanks
Nov 23, 2007 at 1:05 am
[…] loved, photos of a certain ferris wheel and some old friends on the computer.Just the right kind of very lowkey Thanksgiving for us, and we were more than thankful. And here’s more to be thankful for:The […]
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