Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas clean

In years past when i was actually prepared for Christmas I would give the house a deep clean before the big day. I would go into the kids room and do the purge to make way for more "stuff".


This year---it did not happen---any of it. We barely got the tree put up on Christmas Eve. The only place that got cleaned up this year was the corner that the tree was going in. Now mind you I was hoping that the cleaning fairies would come while i was out shopping...but....they didn't. My kids like most do not relish the idea of cleaning--it does not make them all warm and fuzzy. They do not wake up in the morning saying--"let's have some fun"--"let's clean the house" except on this Christmas morning. It was my gift.....

The kids slept in till 9ish and then not being able to hold them off any longer we started the day. They opened their presents and were thrilled with everything--it was kinda hard for them not to be since they had picked out their clothes with me just days before--and there were a few surprises....



while the hubby was surprised about his Zune,
it was really the DVD's of Leave it to Beaver that thrilled him. Hard to believe but I am being serious here...
but that is not what this blog post is about.

It is about the fact that when everything had been opened and a game of Mario cart had been played on the 32 inch TV



it was requested by my children that we should CLEAN---
yes, you read it right--

they said CLEAN--

so we could set up the new TV--(thank goodness for bright children who can figure out how to get the TV out of the box--who knew that the handles to carry the box also held the box together?....why she did)
Really what is more fun than a really large box--maybe the fact the TV was in that box and we all know that video games and movies on Christmas day are far more fun on a big screen. Now this was not your pick up and vacuum clean--this was a move the furniture--rearrange the room,scrub the walls and floors kind of clean--
and they were loving every minute of it--as was I,
watching them work together--

CHEERFULLY
--not a complaint was lodged--
only HAPPINESS was present-
it was my present....
the ultimate gift that my children could have given me.

I had to take a picture to document this moment--It is only once in a lifetime that the planets align and your children are genuinely HAPPY about manual labor about cleaning--and working well together. We spent a good couple of hours getting everything in order and when all was said and done--
we played--and watched them play--


even Grandma got involved.


But more than anything else that made this day great was the comment from my son---
"Mom, this was the best Christmas ever, cleaning and all."
Now that is something you can't buy.

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