christmas prep

Every year, we have a Christmas Eve party. It is always with my husband's family and sometimes my family comes too. This year both sides were coming. We had a lot to do to get ready. I had done most of my food shopping on Wednesday and Thursday. The boys were spared from that frustrating task. We had a 3/4 school day on Thursday. When the boys and I returned from school, my husband informed me that his brother Greg would be staying with us.

My parents were going to be spending the night as well on Christmas Eve, so I asked SJ if he would be willing to give up his bed for Uncle Greg. "But where will I sleep?" said SJ. "I don't know. Either in the playroom with Grammy and Pappy or in Bob's room," I replied. He couldn't decide then, so I told him that we could just decide on Christmas Eve night.

Christmas Eve eve I had the boys helping my husband and I clean up the house. I was actually happy that Greg was staying with us (not that I wouldn't normally be), since it was an even better reason to clean out SJ's room. I got all the small toys put away and then moved on to the bigger stuff. I stripped his bed and surprisingly not a single complaint was heard. I got the whole room dusted and vacuumed. (This is usually a very difficult task due to all the small treasures that he keeps around the room.)

After we had the boys' rooms done, we moved on to the remainder of the house. We managed to finish most of the house on Friday, except for the bathrooms (which always get done the day of the party). I had thrown all of SJ's plushies in a bin and they were sitting in the hall. "Where am I sleeping tonight?" asked SJ. "In your room," I said. "But what about my plushies?" he asked. "Just take a few in your room, but put them back in the bin when you wake up," I said. It hadn't occurred to me that he thought he wouldn't be able to sleep in his room that night.

Overall, I felt the boys were very helpful. I guess they know that Santa is coming and with him comes presents. Too bad Santa doesn't come every night!