out of town guests for the holiday

My cousin and her boyfriend are coming out to stay with us the Thanksgiving holiday. She is in grad school out of state and she lives in California. (It is much cheaper and closer for her to travel to us than head back to California.) I spent the entire day cleaning our house for them and the 17 others that are coming for dinner. SJ is giving up his room for my cousin. I started the morning by stripping his bed. He HATES when I strip his bed!  Every time I wash his sheets, I have to hear the initial 10 minutes of yelling "Why did you take the sheets off of my bed?" I don't even acknowledge it anymore. I simply told him that she was staying in there and guests need clean sheets. He finally calmed down and continued to play. I, however, continued to clean.


A few hours later, my husband and I started to tackle the room itself. What a mess! He has Lego sets and random toys set up in such a way that it forms a track. That is fine for him, but anyone else will break their neck trying to walk through his room. My husband got most of the sets moved to his shelves (I tend to break them and can't rebuild them) while I dusted the room and remade the bed.


Meanwhile, SJ decided he was going to sleep in our unfinished basement.  He took all of his plushies (somewhere around 20), his pillows and his blanket into the basement. There is a section of carpet down there and my husband added a heating vent, but it is still chilly in there. He kept telling us that he was going to sleep there, but I had my doubts. After my cousin and her boyfriend arrive, he proceeded to tell them that is where he was sleeping. I shook my head and mouthed to them that he will probably end up on the couch. After 3 minutes of being in his "new bedroom", he came upstairs with his plushies, his pillows and his blanket. "I am going to sleep on the couch," he said. I smiled at our guests and said, "I knew you would."


I am glad that he isn't so inflexible that he was able to give up his room. He is learning the social niceties that make guest welcome. That is one of the many things that I am thankful for this holiday!