The gifts are wrapped, the house is decorated, the cards have been sent, and the goodies have been baked. The final preparation for being ready for Christmas is getting the house clean. That is the hardest part of all. It was once said that "cleaning with children in the house is like shoveling during a blizzard". I have to agree.
No matter what I do, nothing gets done. I can get to the bottom of the hamper and by nightfall that thing is full again. I can have all the dishes washed and ten minutes later there are more to do. A room can be picked up, vacuumed, and dusted and an hour later it looks no different than before.
My two oldest are at the age where they can be of some help and pick up after themselves. Becca has been known to even wash some pots and pans and help with laundry. But even with the "help" of the children it is just impossible to avoid the daily tasks that need to be done in a houseful of little people. Especially when these little people are at home all day; there is no break where the house can stay clean while they are at school or at daycare. My husband has been known to come home to a disaster of a house and remark "What did you do all day?" HA! What a foolish, foolish man to utter that question! He gets bombarded by my list of what I did accomplish that day. He then gets a play-by-play account of why those same things are now undone, and is listed the name of the child that did it. He gets to hear how I didn't even get to eat lunch because I was too busy, or didn't get a moment alone to go to the bathroom. And I worked all day just to have it look the same by the end of the day!
I'm sure all mothers can understand this phase of life. Even the older mothers must surely remember what it was like when all the children in the house were little. I keep reminding myself that as the children get older I will have more helpers, and less toys. Let's hope there is a noticeable difference today and tomorrow showing all the work I put into cleaning!
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