bah. . . .

. . . . . Okay, so I'm not quite at humbug, but I'm getting there.

I am so not in the Christmas spirit. Today is supposed to be the day I clean this place, top to bottom. Make it spotlessly beautiful so that my Christmas decorations become center stage, instead of the mountains of homework, permission slips, discarded mail, dirty dishes, and laundry that scatter our living quarters any other month of the year.

I absolutely love to decorate. I envision this day for months before the actual event. Plot and plan where everything will go, how to run the extension cords, and even sketch out a unique and classy way to display our stockings on the wall behind our sofa.

These festivities may have started the day after Thanksgiving, but today is always the day when everything "comes together".
I usually don't mind the work that goes into making this house beautiful. Frankly, it isn't hard work. Just a little dusting and rearranging and things are pretty much ready to go. However, this year, I find myself resenting the entire process. Why am I always the one that is in charge of making this house "holiday ready"? How is it fair that I do all the cleaning while everyone else sits around, waiting for the fun to begin? And, so help me if one of these dear children ask me one more time when we're leaving, I just might snap.

This year, I think things are going to be a bit different around here. After a morning of running around, cleaning up all that my dear boys messed up, I decided that doing the work alone really isn't fair. The boys are old enough now to help with some chores around the house. I'm not their maid, and I'm really not teaching them anything by doing this stuff for them.

Which is why, as I'm sitting here, they are rushing around like the busy worker bees I was last year to straighten this place up. Let them dust. Let them find a place for all the toys that have managed to find themselves scattered throughout the house. Let them find the joy in making this house a home.

And I'll be here, the graduated worker bee; cup of cocoa in hand, supervising their work, and telling them what to do next.

The Christmas spirit may be returning, after all.