A Tree and a Mantle

Jadon has an amazing memory which serves him well and continues to astound mom and dad. He is also very routine based and does not like change. For example, if the cars are not parked in the same places in the driveway, he gets upset. We have taken to mixing up where we park just so he has to deal with change (after all the only thing you can count on in life is change).

We brought in our Christmas tree last weekend. Due to allergies in the family we went to an artificial tree many years ago. As mentioned in the previous post, we couldn't seem to get it up fast enough for Jadon. It took most of the week to really get it all put together. Jadon and I finally finished it on Friday. Jadon loves to put on the ornaments, and had a very efficient method. He sat on the floor and put all the same ornaments in a neat row. He was so happy that they were all together. I was able to persuade him with a little difficulty to spread them out over more of the tree. The joys of being a routine based child.

This is the finished tree ala Jadon. He helped to put the wrapped presents under it with lots of reminders to spread them out and not to put them in a neat pile like stacking blocks.

Saturday, as I was trying to get the rest of the house decorated for Christmas, Jadon walked over to the mantle and began drawing his finger in a vertical line from the top of the mantle to the bottom listing off family names with each stroke. It took me a minute to realize what he was doing. I started making Christmas stockings when out family was small and have added stocking over the years as the family has grown. As children started getting married and having kids, they have requested stockings for spouses and children. We have a very full mantle with all the stockings up. I finally realized that Jadon was drawing where the sock would hang and naming whose sock would fill that spot on the mantle. I asked him to use his words, but he just kept naming, so I asked, "Jadon, do you want the stockings up?" "Yes, stockings" was his quick reply. So we went upstairs and got the socks out of the cedar chest. He wanted them all up, but I had decided to down-size the amount decorating I did this year so we ended putting up only those of the family who would be here this year. Jadon had two new nieces and a nephew added to the family this year so the blank red ones are for them (until we can get theirs made - usually I have the mom's help to decide and design what goes on the sock).

A full mantle of Christmas socks.