That's Life Enjoy It

Christmas Decorating
I had to "self-correct" pretty quickly yesterday while putting out the Christmas decor. Notice I said putting out and not putting up. Our house is in a state of "out" not "up". Lots of decorations out , but not much "up".
The kids all wanted to dig and dig and find, and "Help"- Thats one of the reasons each of the kids has their own trees. SO they can put it up, change it, take it down, turn it around, lay it on its side, put the ornaments on, or under, or behind. Whatever they want.
Luke could hardly stand it- I had bins, with things hanging out of them. Stuff on the floor. Lights in the bathroom, in the hall, on the floor. Things everywhere. Tucker did not want to be left out either. Luke kept running from one thing to the next, putting ribbon that we had used to tie the branches together for storage onto the tree, that had not been lit yet. ( or shaped) He was so excited- and kept saying- "I want to help, I just want to help"- with a happy smile on his face. He was so happy, and he kept touching my face, and hair- and after another " I want to help" and one more box crashing to the floor, I mumbled
"you can help- by not helping me for a minute"
AND I had a moment.. you know where you hear yourself. I could not believe I said that. I don't want Christmas decorating to be remembered by my family as grumpy. Or as- Mom had to have it her way- (although who doesn't want the perfect tree)
I had to quickly change my attitude. How long will my children want to help? How long will my children want to be with me to decorate and get excited for holidays?
And here is where the music starts playing, and we all sit down and have hot cocoa, and read christmas books together and then finish decorating.
Well- not really- There was some crying about being teased upstairs, and how nobody would stay out of anybodys room-but I did grab Luke and give him a big squeeze. And felt oh so grateful that for this moment, he was "happy" and not being one of the ones upset. And I asked him to "help" me some more. I smiled. And I reminded myself to keep smiling.