Santa... Scary?

In the eyes of a child with Autism, this world can be a scary place to navigate in. It doesn't help that for them trying to feel, see and hear this world is piled on top of also trying to be social and see people for people. That being said, I am going to talk about Santa. And how my Little Miss thinks he is Satan. She and the Church Lady from SNL would get along well. Santa has become a bane of my existence.Why? Well I have one child who loves to go visit him at the malls, writes him letters and generally thinks he is a great guy. While the other one, thinks he horrible, will literally run screaming in the opposite direction from the Mall Santa, and the look of terror on her face at the sheer mention of his name. We can't even walk in the corner of the mall where Santa is taking picture with screaming babies. We avoid him like he was the carrier of the Black Plague. Which sucks for the kid who like him.  For a child that takes everything on the literal sense, the idea of a strange man, keeping tabs on you all year round, coming into your house in the dead of night, eating your cookies and drinking your milk can be a terrifying thought.

For years no one understood why this child would have a epic meltdown at Christmas time. All the Santa craft ideas were a no go. All the decorations with Santa on them weren't put on the tree. There was a point where you couldn't even show her a picture of the Jolly old Fellow without tears. Now we have gotten better. But if you ask her if she wants to go see Santa, you will get the "Oh, Hell NO!!!"look on her face. Now I know I am never going to get that picture of her with Santa. They all look awkward anyways.   Even with these "Sensitive Santa" time slots Malls now have for the Special Needs children, you will not see us standing in line.. Interestingly enough, the youngest hates the Easter Bunny just as much.. Holidays are fun, aren't they? ~L~