Apologies for the late blog on our Christmas. Where do I start? As normal, for us, probably for many of you too - Christmas is as calm and quiet as I can get it. I go out of my way to slip into the background and make it as calm as I possibly can. Being a single parent means Christmas is twice as difficult, what is a job for 2 people, I take care of myself. The presents that the children have are my responsibility, and without me putting thought and effort into each individual child’s presents, they would have a miserable empty day! And I’m not doing that to my children.

So Christmas is low key. Some great tips that I have found include:

Minimising decorations
Tree up for minimum days
Make Christmas last as short as possible
Attend SEN/ASD friendly festive activities
Allow time to open presents, maybe boxing day or Christmas Eve
Remember overwhelm leads to sensory meltdowns
Listen to your child

This Christmas I had help, it was the first Christmas in 8 years that I had a friend here to stay for the whole 2 week period. It did mean we had to self isolate and couldn’t mix with any other households (unless outside) but the lift of feeling less isolated and supported through Christmas was really amazing and really worth saving my mental health for.

As for Christmas festive activities, Santa came to visit and we watched lots of movies! Played board games, card games, ate a humongous roast beef dinner and had lots of 24 hour challenges. That really was a thing!! The late nights eventually caught up with us, and thankfully we started to turn it around ready for this week.

Christmas has been lovely, not the normal dreaded stressed out experience I’m used to. Fun fact: I used to be sick every year! My body just couldn’t cope with the pressures of Christmas, and I would either have sickness and the shits! Or I would be so fatigued I couldn’t manage the days after, or I would have the flu, or another respiratory condition (I had asthma as a child). Having someone else to help carry the load is just so precious.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Gina x