Stacy and I had been running a bit ragged, so when we put up our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving, put up just enough up to make our house look festive. The newest addition to our outdoor decorations is the inflatable Santa pushing an elf in a wheelchair that Stacy’s parents bought for us.
It looks like it is currently out of stock and probably won’t be available again until sometime next year, but if you’re interested, they bought it at Walmart.
Every year since James was born, Stacy has bought a family ornament. We used to hang them around the mirror in our foyer, but now that we have fourteen of them, we’ve run out of room on the mirror. Stacy got a little crafty, bought a couple of small wooden sleds at a craft store, and made a new display for our family ornaments:
For those of you that counted the ornaments in the picture above, there are actually fifteen. The 2009 ornament was really two separate ornaments, one for me and Stacy, and one for James. Here is this year’s ornament:
Is it just us, or have you also been seeing more and more decorations and things with wheelchairs? One of our friends bought James an ornament of Santa in a wheelchair and Stacy found some wrapping paper at Target with elves on it and one of the elves is in a wheelchair.
It’s nice to see those with varying disabilities being included in even the small things like wrapping paper.
I don’t remember what year we started doing this, but every year for as long as I can remember, we’ve taken James to the mall to get a picture of the Caring Santa. He is a special Santa for kids with disabilities. This year we brought Maggie so both of our kids could get a picture with Santa. I think the mall was a little too overwhelming for her. We got our pictures done before any of the stores opened so there were very few people in the mall, but I think the many different smells from the various stores were too much for her. We were only in the mall for about half an hour, but after we got home, she was just wiped out.
A couple of weeks ago they had Ugly Sweater Day at school. Since James doesn’t have an ugly sweater, Stacy sent him to school wearing this…
The week before winter break, he made a gingerbread church:
That same week, Stacy sent him to school in holiday-themed shirts. She forgot to take a picture on that Tuesday and Friday was the first day of winter break.
The kids—James and Maggie—finished their advent calendars on Christmas Eve. Maggie had one of those doggy ones that had a couple of little treats each day. Although James’ wasn’t edible, Maggie did have to check out the pieces just to make sure. Once she was sure that James’ calendar didn’t have any food, she left it alone.
Stacy and I didn’t give many gifts to each other this year. Just a couple of small things. For one, there wasn’t much that we wanted or needed. And with some recent unexpected repairs to the van, we need to watch our money a bit. Our kids were taken care of, though. Maggie got some special treats and a new winter coat.
James got an Amazon gift card, a wheelchair ornament for the Christmas tree, some new shirts, a hair trimmer, and an electric shaver. We used to have a nice hair stylist that would come to our house and cut James’ hair free of charge but hasn’t been by since Covid, so Stacy’s been doing it herself. I’ve been hesitant about starting to shave James because I know once I start, I’m going to have to keep up with it. And if his facial hair starts growing as fast, and as thick, as the hair on his head, he will probably have a full beard in two weeks.
Final Thoughts of the Year
Since this will be my last post of the year, I want to take a minute to reflect on 2023.
I think this past year has been one of James’ better ones health-wise. He hasn’t been in the hospital in over a year, and other than some respiratory issues in February, he has remained relatively healthy. There has been talk about Covid numbers increasing, plus some flu and RSV going around so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that none of those germs make their way to James. I think we’re more nervous about the upcoming oral surgery than the germs.
The first few months of high school have been nothing short of amazing. We were really nervous about him leaving the elementary school district that he had been in for eleven years. He had an amazing team of teachers and therapists, and we were worried about him losing that support system. Well, he has joined a new team in high school, and they are just as awesome as his elementary school teammates. We’re looking forward to seeing what the rest of his high school career has in store for him. Because of the Children with Disabilities Article in the Illinois School Code, James can remain in high school until he turns 22. That’s like 7 years and 8 months from now. Is it bad that I am already starting to think about what happens then? If James is no longer in school, then Stacy will no longer be able to work during the day. She’ll only be able to work nights and weekends, which will cut back on some of our income. I know, I have 7 years to worry about that, but I am already starting to think about it.
As always, thank you for your continued support, especially those that made a donation to our van fundraiser, or bought a shirt. Our aging van is probably the biggest stressor in our lives right now. A couple of weeks ago Stacy noticed a little bit of fluid on the floor in the garage where she parks the van. She was able to get it into the shop to be looked at that same day. It appeared to be an oil leak and they said they would need it for several hours to further diagnose it and fix it. How many hours is several? Three? Four? How about six?! Six hours and almost $1,400 later and the van is fixed. No that wasn’t just to fix the leak. Since they already had the top part of the engine apart to find and fix the leak, we had them give it a tune-up as well since that would need to be done in the next year or so. We need to keep this van running for as long as possible and we can’t afford any major surprises.
Have a safe and happy new year.
