The Perfect Christmas Ornament
The most beautiful ornaments are the ones that were never meant to be an ornament.
Looking back we always had big family Christmas celebrations with my husband’s family, celebrating what was and is really important…having a family that loves you for who you are.
My husband’s family have always been our biggest supporters, our voice when we were unable to speak, and our spine when we felt like falling.
They never saw us as the family with the broken kids but as the family who was theirs and kept doing what was needed to make us feel welcome.
They were always able to leave, we never forced them to stay.
My own family left but his remained.
My son Leander is usually excited, anxious, and triggered to leave for the big holiday with them.
Sleeplessness rises and behaviors excel all because of knowing we are going on Christmas Celebration and we get to spend one week with all the adults, uncles and cousins in the same house.
Uncle Mashed Potatoes (Leander named him like this) lets Leander enter the house first. Leander is his aide for the big hikes to make the routes.
Our daughter Jitse is part of the flock of girls.
We can unwind.
Everyone looks after each other and every night there is the big (a bit drunk) singalong.
Our strength is the family bond which proved to be unbreakable.
We have to miss it this year. Each of us is home bound as Covid is messing up our lives. But we are making the best of it. Looking ahead to next year, knowing we all will hug once more.
And as we are now looking at our home bound Christmas our birds decided it is time for a new tradition.
The birds have officially become Christmas ornaments, showing us nothing is impossible when you truly love one another.
Written by, Lien Depoorter
Lien Depoorter lives in Belgium with her family; her husband Stéphane, their daughter Jitse, thirteen who was recently with Autism and ADD and their son, Leander , twelve, who was diagnosed with Autism at age six. Lien helps coach a special needs soccer team and advocates for her family and others. Lien is plain, boring and hates compliments. She finds the humor and joy in the strangest places even while working a full time job as project engineer in construction. She is straight forward and lacks a filter and her life changed by promising her son a Bird for cleaning his room even though she already had half a zoo. Since getting the bird, Kiki has become Leander’s service animal and has literally been life altering. Lien started documenting the positive changes and the Facebook page, A Bird named Kiki was born.
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