This is what I did, I gave him a pen and let him circle the most important toys. Then I had him make a list (I know that this isn’t possible for every child on the spectrum, but Jaxon is able to write fairly well so I wanted to try it out) out of the toys he circled 5 toys that he simply HAD to have. He really sat and thought about it for a long time and did a great job! I explained to him that Santa can only bring so many toys in his sleigh and so every boy and girl will only get 1 or 2 things from Santa and then a couple things from Mom and Dad (we always get new shoes, socks, PJ’s and such and wrap them up too so that it looks like they have more presents than they really do). He seemed to be ok with this. I told him that we would send his list to Santa and that Santa would look it over and see what was available in his workshop…again, seemed to work. Oh, and did I mention that none of the toys that I got him were in that book…GREAT, (since then his Grandma got him two of the items, so I think we are going to be ok) so I went to Amazon (online) and "showed" him a cople of things that I thought he "might like"....since they were already on layaway where they would be secured as gifts but I didn't need to find hiding places for them yet...he was definitely on board with my choices!
I keep reminding him (especially after every toy commercial) that we already made our list and that we can’t get everything we see…sometimes being a kid is just as hard as being a parent. I am sure that he will be very excited on Christmas morning when he get a few of the most important things he asked for and not be so overwhelmed with a lot of little things like we have gotten in the past. I am so excited to be nearly done with my Christmas shopping, what about you?