Halfway through the task, the rest of the boys got home from school all excited to be surprised that we were decorating. This is when I made my "Mommy Proclamation". I proclaimed that the adding of the decorations would not take place until the livingroom and bedrooms were clean and that they had just enough time to get it done before I finished preparing the tree.
Why throw in the cleaning? Was I just being mean? Well, it's a matter of opinion. I noticed lately that the boys aren't lifting a finger without me there enforcing it. I look for any opportunity to motivate them to get-r-done, especially things they are excited about like decorating or Grandma coming over.
Are you thinking they hopped to it and we got it all done as one big, loving, happy family? Nope! A week went by, remember? No, they wandered around, lost my fourth spool of ribbon under the coffee table, looked at their messy rooms, played video games and two fights broke - one out over a toy while cleaning and the second one is still a mystery but Dakota got wacked in the eye with a sweatshirt sleeve so I threw in the towel.
To my surprise last night, exactly 7 days later, Josh walks in the door and says, "I told my friend's mom that we didn't have any decorations on our tree" then followed by, "Hey everybody clean up - let's decorate!" He even insisted I do it with them so I did the "oooh, here's your Baby's First Christmas ornament. Oh, and there's your Baby's Second Christmas ornament....Oh, and here's my favorite one...". It was as if the world was rotating in reverse - everyone got along and cheerfully decorated and even cleaned up the empty boxes afterward.
Score one for Mom this week!
The holiday spirit is totally lost on my boys 2 and 5. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is drive around and look at the holiday lights people put up. My kids have turned even that in to an awful competition. Whenever we pass by a house with pretty lights they each scream at the top of their lungs "Christmas Lights!" and then start fighting (also at the top of their lungs) about who saw them first. It makes me dread driving anywhere after dark... grrr.
ReplyDeleteThanks Getrealmommy for letting me know we are not the only ones . . .And Leah--Congrats! Michael got the big old artificial tree out and we agreed on one small box of plastic ornaments that I got last year. Handed it to the boys and they went to town on the tree. It's pityful, but they were excited and proud. My Nativity got to be out for maybe 15 minutes before that fight started (flingin Wisemen and camels at each other). It went back to the shed. We have minimal decor. Then the other day, Becky wanted to know if I wanted to bring the boys over to see her beautiful tree and lights . . .
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I like everything to be clean and tidy before we start decorating for Christmas too!! It's so nice when there's cooperation too - way to go to your boys!
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