Like previous times, Ronan looked through the missal at the Readings with me.  He followed my finger as I pointed to the words of the Responsorial Psalm.  He looked at the words of the hymn being sung.  After the cantor sang The First Noel, Ronan kept the missalette in his lap and looked for more.  Song after song, he flipped from one page to the next.  While the rest of us participated in the liturgy, Ronan continued to read.  He flipped to the beginning of the book and scanned one page after another. 

He was definitely looking. 

He was absolutely reading. 

He was engaged in The Word in a way that gave me a great amount of hope.  

Once we got home, Ronan sat at the dining table waiting for the quick snack I promised he’d get.  As he waited, he tried his very best to unbutton the ironed, collared button-down shirt I never ask him to wear but once or twice a year.  Even though it didn’t bother him at all while we were at church, he immediately wanted it off, off, off.  Starting to get frustrated, his youngest sister and I quickly helped him. 

Back in his comfy clothes, he began to play a favorite song on his iPad. He kept asking/signing for French fries, a favorite snack, but was happy for a few bites of the frozen cherry cheesecake I’d made for friends who brought us Christmas Eve dinner.  He stayed happy despite how late it was and then slept in on Christmas morning.  

Ronan’s been sleeping in late every day since the kids’ schools started Christmas break.  A luxury, I never wake him up early on our days off unless it’s absolutely necessary.  Hoping he’d get all the rest he needed, the Christmas morning excitement was building as each of the typical siblings made their way to the living room where our tree is.  One, two, three, four…almost all five Jameson kids were present.  They asked for Ronan as they gathered, but I asked that we let him sleep. 

They were understanding, and later, what a joyous welcome they gave Ronan when he woke up for the day!

Every few years, I go overboard with shopping for presents.  Some years I stick with the kids’ wish lists.  Other years I go rogue and we’ll get them things they’ll never expect.  It's God's honest truth that each of my kids made out like bandits this year, including Ronan.  So grateful not for the amount of presents but for the thought that went into them was apparent.  Their grins, from ear to ear, were our biggest clue that the kids were so grateful for what they received.  Shopping for Ronan can be difficult, but even he was smiling after successfully opening the presents he was given.  

The rest of our day was filled with being with family.  As I puttered in the kitchen prepping dinner for ten, I thought back to the evening before with Ronan sitting quietly next to me at church.  He sat there thumbing through the Gospel stories that lead up to baby Jesus’ birth.  He was purposefully turning pages, scanning, and looking for something in the text.  My busy life needed that little bit of slowing down I did - to stop and enjoy what Ronan was doing and to take a deep breath and relax because he was content.  Getting Ronan to Mass would be my biggest challenge. 

It turned into the greatest gift I could’ve received. 

That and hosting visitors who traveled from many miles to join us in the Christmas celebration, we were so happy to share some time together and to make memories.  Making memories is what life’s all about.  I hope and pray that you got to make some good ones with your family this season like I got to make with mine. 

Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.