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Decking the Halls

December 15, 2023/
Deck the Halls sign, garland and Mikey, wearing headphones, smiling up at the lit tree.
Smiling at the tree, while not helping too much...he gets away with it because he is so sweet.

We flash forward this Friday to peek at how Mikey is doing now. Our focus is on Christmas decorating and my method hasn’t changed much since we began. Michael is always invited and included and he can make his own decisions about what he wants to do.

So, as Always

Michael gets to help with Christmas decorations as much as he wants.  He likes to help, but his attention span is short. You already know he loves to decorate the gingerbread house, but that usually doesn’t become a Christmas decoration because we eat it for dessert on the same day we decorate it.  Actually, we eat the candy off of it because we buy the pre-made gingerbread houses and they’re pretty dry.

Mikey putting candy on the gingerbread house.
So carefully decorated, only to be destroyed with gusto!

One year, he made a really cool paper chain with a kit he got as a present. The Christmas-themed variety of paper was pre-cut with slits to help the ends stay together. Then I added a piece of tape to each one and we hung it in our diningroom for the season.

Michael seated at the dining room table with his homemade paper chain in the background.
Holiday themed papers make this paper chain truly beautiful.

Mikey loves to sit by the tree and enjoy the lights, but he rarely puts on more than one or two ornaments. In fact, he’ll take off ornaments he likes to play with them…I have explained, lightheartedly, that this is the opposite of help. Wink.

Mikey sitting in front of the lit tree.
Mikey does lots of appreciating the Christmas decorating, but not too much actual decorating.
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Erica Mauro

About the Author

Erica Mauro is a mom to two teenage boys, Will who is neurotypical and Michael with Autism and cognitive delays. She holds a BA in Psychology from Colgate University and a Masters of Psychology in Education from Columbia Teacher’s College. Before staying home with her children, she worked as an elementary school teacher. For five years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Molly Ann Tango Memorial Foundation, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children with special needs. In partnership with her husband Dave, she aspires to parent by using daily life as an opportunity for therapeutic intervention, seizing on real experiences as opportunities to build skills and strategies for Michael in a joyful, loving home environment. On the tougher early days, she just tried to get everyone safely to bedtime and start fresh in the morning. *wink* 😉

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