The Complete Christmas Playbook for Autism Parents: From December 1st Through New Year's

You made it through Halloween. You made it through Thanksgiving. Now you're looking at December. Christmas is the longest, loudest, most obligation-heavy holiday of the year. It doesn't arrive on December 25th — it arrives December 1st (or earlier, if your kid's school has already started the countdown), and it doesn't end until the New Year's Eve fireworks finally stop and everyone goes home. Most Christmas guides for autism parents focus on Christmas morning. This one covers the whole arc: the first holiday decoration that shows up at school, the four weeks of school events and family parties, the gift-opening situation, the relatives who are in your house for three days, New Year's Eve — which has its own completely separate set of landmines — and January, when the crash finally hits and school starts again. This is the playbook for the parents who are already thinking ahead. The ones who know that December 25th is the accumulation of everything that came before it, and that the way you manage January depends on how you managed December. This is subscriber content. If you're already a member, keep reading. If not — this is exactly the kind of resource your membership gets you.