Christmas Decorating

We have a family tradition where each day in December, the kids peek inside the drawer of an advent calendar to find a piece of candy and a paper with an activity written on it. Today's activity was, "Decorate your room for Christmas." When the kids were younger, I used to take part in the activities. Now, for the most part, they are on their own. I had no idea what they might do.

I taught piano lessons, as usual. When I was finished, my nine-year-old daughter ran down the stairs shouting, "Mommy, you have to see my room!"

Uh oh.

I climbed the stairs and attempted to walk into her room. She had Christmas lights strung all around her room, taped to the walls. She had paper snowflakes taped to the walls. She found every Christmas stuffed animal she owned and covered her bed and the floor with them. It was quite a production.

Then my six-year-old son called me. "Mommy, check out my room!"

Christmas lights were strung across his bed, taped to the walls and the window. Paper snowflakes covered his door. He even found his Bart Simpson that sings an interesting rendition of Jingle Bells.

"Wow," I said, "You kids are certainly creative!"

Too bad they aren't as good at cleaning up their rooms!