My husband and I grew up in low income homes. Eventhough our parents worked, they didn’t always make enough to cover bills and food.

I remember when I was in high school. We had been kicked out of a trailer park for not paying the rent. As much as we tried we just never had enough to pay rent and bills. My parents used all the funds they could get by selling anything of value to hire someone to move our trailer to another place. In this new place, we didn’t have water connections, gas, nor electricity. When you move to a new place as the first people to ever live there, one has to dig holes to install plumbing, buy the pole to connect the light, etc. There was just no way we could get any of these things. One needed money for supplies. We just didn’t have it. And we had to simply do without.

We were able to borrow the neighbors water hose to get water. But we barely had enough for food much less to get our home ready for winter. I remember being so cold at night. We all had a bunch of blankets trying to get thru the night. It didn’t matter how many blankets we had, we were just so cold.

Fast forward to now. And just last month, we had our first cold night. All I had to do was ask Google to turn on the heat.

Every year when we have our first cold night, my mind always goes back to when I was a teen, when we were freezing on so many mights. And I’m just so grateful that my kids aren’t cold. That they don’t have to worry about taking a freezing bath to get ready for school. Or worry if they will eat today. Or see their parents stressing out due to the never ending stack of bills.

I know this blog is technically not autism related. But I wanted to take a few minutes to express how grateful I am for everything we have. My kids are happy and healthy. And although my son doesn’t care for presents or traditions, he’s just simply happy to be with his family. And my heart is so full. I am so blessed.

On this Christmas Eve, I want to wish all of our autism family and friends a very Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy this holiday with the people that you love.

Thank you for being part of our journey. ❤🧑‍🎄🎅🎄❤