the one

Every year there is "the one" gift Dave will sleep, eat, brush teeth with, and generally carry around like a security blanket for weeks after Christmas.

This year?  His choice was immediately obvious.  He is in Star Wars heaven.

Christmas Prep

We have been decking the halls and are officially ready for Christmas after visiting Santa yesterday.  So many things to feel grateful and excited for this Christmas season!

We got the tree up super early this year in mid November.  We waited until after Thanksgiving to decorate it and the rest of the house, but it's been nice sitting by the glow of the tree each night after Dave is in bed.

Yesterday Dave and I went to see Santa.  He wasn't really into the idea of leaving the house at first--he was happy to get to stay home with mom and just play instead of school.

 Then he realized what I actually meant.

 And got super excited.

 He was star-struck when we got there and he saw it was ACTUALLY SANTA CLAUS!

 He got a little nervous while we waited in line

 And tried to be patient while he waited for his turn.

 Santa is such a sweet old man!

 He asked Dave for a big hug and sent him on his way with a piece of chocolate, stickers, and a coloring book!

Christmas Eve? bring it on!

"quirky"

I'm a little OCD.  And I say that not in a "haha that's funny" way, but honestly, there are some slightly crazy things about me.  Bart teases me a bit about it.  The most evident of this is my nighttime routine.  Everything on my bedstand (tissues, glass of water, stick of blistex, plugged in phone, and st. ives intensive healing for sensitive skin lotion) is carefully placed in the same places so I can get to them in the middle of the night.  I can't sleep without lotion on my feet, to the extent of when I get out of bed if I forget something after I do my lotion, I have to reapply.  It has to be the one kind of lotion.  If I don't do it my feet literally hurt.  This drives Bart CRAZY because lotioning routine takes about a minute and sometimes I will have to redo it two or so times before I'm able to lay down for good.

Crazy, right?  I know.  I also feel weird sitting in certain areas of a room, like if my back is to something sometimes it bothers me, and I panic a little bit if I feel like I'm in a place where I can't leave if I need to quickly.  I like making lists.  I'm a little bit psycho.

The first time we took Dave in for a consult we mentioned his OCD behavior and his need for processes to be done in a certain way and not interrupted.  He is still like this in a very severe way, I think it's part of his disabilities, but I'm certain it is perpetuated by having me as a mother.  As we were answering her questions, I was lining up toys that Dave was bringing me into a straight line.  The doctor looked at me like I was nuts.

Like mother, like son?

Well, I became more aware of the genetics of this thing over Thanksgiving.  Like mother, like daughter?  My mom labelled all the dishes we were going to use.  For everything.  It helped a lot in the chaos of getting everything plated and ready, but did we REALLY need a label for the salad tons to know what they were for? Or what the gravy boat is for?

I don't feel any less crazy, but at least I feel less alone!

Branson

The first week of November, Bart's parents and his older sister Heather came to visit.  We spent a couple days in Branson.  None of us had ever been, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  It seems like there is so much to do there.  The highlights were riding the Branson Belle boat and the famous train.  Dave really thought it was cool.  Fall colors were still abundant. Bart also went with his parents and Heather to see the Osmonds while I hung back with Dave in the hotel.  I'm so glad they were able to visit.

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