Hip, Hip, Hooray for Christmas Vacation!!  Safi and I are now officially on break for the next three weeks!  Dad took this coming week off so we can go to the snow and try our hand at sledding for the first time and we are PUMPED!  Took one of our sleds out to the park today for a practice run on the grass and it was awesome, though neither Safi nor I like to go fast.  On Saturday we got to visit Santa and tell him what we want for Christmas...I want a big girl guitar with rock stars on it and Safi wants a Phineas and Ferb guitar with Perry the platypus on it.  He said we were very good and that he would make a special note of it on his list.  It was awesome!  Safi was a little star struck but I got over my Santa fear and sat on his lap for pictures.  When we pulled up and saw Santa outside I reminded everyone that we needed to be very brave, and I was!  It was great!

I'm getting ahead of myself.  Ok, so Safi had her Christmas program on Tuesday night and it was great.  It was a lot more crowded than the last program and it was at night so Safi and I were both thrown off a little.  I wanted to go home so dad spent most of the time entertaining me instead of watching the program.  Safi seemed a little distracted and overwhelmed but she did all of the routines and got through the show with a smile on her face.  Success!

I had my preschool Christmas party and mom got to go.  It was ok, a little confusing because they combined my class with the later one...lots of new faces and grown ups.  I made a festive necklace, a gingerbread house, and sang some great songs.  We even clapped so well that Santa, himself, came for a visit!!  When he sat down I couldn't contain myself, blurting out that I want a big girl guitar with rock stars all over it before I could even get near him!  When it was my turn to go up mom could tell I was nervous.  She told me I could give him a high five, and I did.  Then it happened, he reached out to put me on his knee and I did a 180, screaming all the way.  I was not ready for that!  In true A Christmas Story fashion, when mom took me back up a little later to properly tell Santa what I wanted (safely a foot away on mom's knee), I yelled "A candy cane!"  I got the candy cane but blew it in the moment.  So it was very lucky that we got to see him again over the weekend and I took full advantage of my second chance!!  That night mom asked me if I good day at my party and I said no, because I was tired and didn't want to go.  Mom thought about it and apart from hamming it up for the camera and having fun chasing my friends, I really just kind of went through the motions.  She felt sad.  I guess that's just how it goes sometimes.

Safi had a great time wearing PJ's to school on Polar Express day and had a blast on Friday at her class party.  Mom got the numbers of some of her friend's mom's so she can hang out with them over break.  I know she'll love that!

Aaker worked very hard this weekend!  That tiny little elf managed to bring us a GIANT caterpillar climber all the way from the North Pole.  Very impressive!  We also got a Sesamee Street Wii game and a box full of goodies from our Omi.  Christmukkah RULES!!!  Had a great weekend playing with everything and just being with my family.  I'm only hearing voices and seeing things at night this week so things have been simmering down a bit and that's a good thing.  Everyone, me included, is just trying really hard to keep things at an even keel and we're doing a great job.  (Note from mom:  Psychotic disorders naturally exhibit a waxing and waning of symptoms....sometimes symptoms are front and center and at other times they take a back seat, sort of like static.  While this is a normal course, medicated or not, we hope that by keeping Nixi's stress levels down and making her feel supported that we can extend the waning period for as long as possible.  In my research I'm finding that a number of people with these disorders report going for months up to years between their first psychotic break and their next!  Reading lots of memoirs by adults with psychotic disorders and going on tons of message boards to get perspective on the course of their illnesses as well insight into their firsthand experience so we can better understand and help Nix.  Next week I'll try to remember to post a list of some great memoirs as well as some interesting research!)   Looking forward to a great winter break.

So there!  We had a pretty good week and are just feeling really hopeful and excited about what the next few weeks have in store for us!

Peace
Nixi

Get funky, Safi....


Wow!  We must have clapped louder than I thought!