We wish you an OCD christmas.....

I am not sure how other people celebrate holidays. I know at our house things have always been....interesting. My son, with his delightful personality tends to be a bit....OCD when it comes to his toys. My daughter hates toys. She always has. Well ever since that darn Barbie lied to her. She watched a T.V commercial during the holidays about a particular Barbie that had wings and would fly around....We all know that Barbies do not fly. (except in my nightmares) My daughter however believed the commercials. She asked for the Barbie, we obliged. When the big day arrived and Barbie was in her little hands the joy quickly became frustration, then tears. I didn't understand! Did I get the wrong doll? Is she the wrong color? No mommy, the darn thing doesn't fly. The next time the commercial came on I watched it more closely with her. "Look sweetie see the big man hand making Barbie fly?"  I explained. She was upset. There was not a way to fix this, Barbie was destined to be at the bottom of the toy box.
     Once that lesson was learned by us, the adults of the family, I took more precautions when asking her what she wanted for Christmas. There was a lot of explaining, and going over commercials with her debunking the claims. I think she still hates toys but we have a better grasp on why.
     My son? Well he loves toys....a bit too much. He becomes obsessive. To the point, really that if that toy isn't under the tree, we would ALL be sorry. Now I realize this makes him sound like a "brat". That is not the case. If it is his Aspergers or one of the side effects of the medications he was on, there was no stopping the desire. There was the year he had to have a robot, then the next year it was R2D2. These things are now high up on his shelf. He loves them, everything about them. We don't love that they consume batteries at the rate of a billion an hour.  He played with them constantly, he enjoyed them...now he says he is waiting until he has the expertise to reassemble them into one big robot.  Some day I bet he will.
   He has moved on to Lego's. Thankfully this is something we all enjoy. The sets are fun and easy to build....unfortunately they do not stay built.  Jaba the hut's ship was one set that took me personally two days to put together and about three seconds for him to take apart. He said it drove him crazy that it was assembled. What?
Now I look at set's as parts like he does, it isn't the whole thing he sees.... he recognizes the pieces as more valuable than the set put together. He amazes me. I can pick up just about any piece in his Lego tubs and he can tell me the set it came from. He has asked once or twice to reassemble the sets...we have all the instructions but the pieces have long been mixed with others, and the hunt for that one little piece is just too much. For me and for him.
     This year, he has not really asked for anything. He has here and there said, "Oh I want that for Christmas." But it is different this year. There is no obsession. There is no talking constantly about the item. Its nice in a way....but different.
     I remember Christmases past where I knew he would be ecstatic because we have made sure that perfect gift is under the tree. This year is a crap shoot. I hope he will be happy, I hope my daughter will be too. I know that I tried my best.....and that is all we can do.