When your kids get big...

Friday was apparently take your ginger to work day because Adam took Mark to work.  We missed the little guy around here.

That meant I had my two oldest here to help me decorate for Christmas.  It was remarkably fast.  I couldn't believe how quickly we finished and how un-exhausted I felt at the end compared to usual.  Besides being able to hang things for me that I usually have to stand on a chair to hang, Braeden lugged boxes and kept his foot on the accelerator because he works fast.  It's his only speed.  He also set up the living room tree along with Emma like it was his job.  Teenage boys.  That's where it's at when you need the heavy lifting.  And reaching. 

We were decorating the living room tree and after one too many comments from Emma and me about his ornament placement he sat down on a chair and said, "Can I do something else? I'm no good at this."

(Perhaps this was because I told him he put ornaments up like he was drunk.  I do my best to bolster self esteem around here...)

Emma and I sent him for pizza and we finished the tree without him.  Emma is an asset in the decorating department.  She's patient and has an artistic eye.  I felt guilty on Thanksgiving morning because I made pie and rolls while she was asleep.  I'm not teaching her to bake.

I have taught her how to decorate a tree though.  So that's something.

There are some stark contrasts around here from how it used to be--besides the lickety split decorating.

This bookshelf kind of sums it up:

 

Those are all the Christmas bears, arranged in chronological order by Braeden and Emma.  It used to be that the bears were played with all day long and in a constant jumble.  I wouldn't be surprised if they stay that neat and tidy all season.

Also those are our Christmas books.  This is the first time in over ten years that I haven't wrapped them up for a Christmas book advent calendar, one book to be opened and read aloud every day.  The past few years, our kids are too busy and it hasn't happened.  Sometimes on the weekends, we'd have a marathon book reading session but it just wasn't the same.

This year I decided to let it go.  Some traditions are meant to evolve.  Last night everyone picked a book and read it out loud to the rest of us.  Braeden did different voices and accents, Adam read aloud like only Adam can read aloud.  Awesomely.  He had to reread some lines because we were laughing. (A Wish For Wings that Work--it's a favorite around here.) There were no snuggling children on either side of me with Mark on my lap like there used to be.  That could have killed me under the crush. 

You can't have everything and I thoroughly love having teenagers.

Especially when you can send them out for pizza.