Monday, November 28, 2011

Whose turn is it to place the Christmas Star ?

Daddy trying to move the tree into place ...
with a little "help" from Myra and Catalina
L-R: Josh Jr, Myra, Brooklyn,
Savannah, Catalina,
Ben and Karen sitting

I love Christmastime!  My favorite thing is that (usually) there is very little fighting and lots more giving.  But one question always seems to bring out the grumpys in my kids:
Whose year is it to place the Christmas Star atop the tree?!

This year, amidst the arguing over who did it last year and why it should be "my" turn (argued by 5 of the 6 kids ... but only because Myra still has no clue what is going on yet ... she just likes the shiny lights and all the new things she can try to sneak to play with!) ... I devised a plan to keep us on track.  We'll see if it works next year, but for now it brought an end to the discussions and everyone seemed willing to accept my plan.

There are six kids in this house, each who wants to place the star, which is the last ornament to go on the tree before we conduct our annual "light it up" ceremony.
 - Josh Jr will be 18 years old in 6 more Christmases ... so my plan is to have us start over this year and just go down one child each year until that time.  This means Josh Jr placed the star this year, and will do so again after his 18th birthday.  His next turn would not come until he is 24, at which point we assume he will be living somewhere other than this house, perhaps even with a family and traditions of his own.
 - Ben will go next year and he will be 11 at that time.  His next turn will be when he is 17.  That puts his 3rd turn at 23 ... and we hold out the same hopes for him at that age (living somewhere other than this house, maybe even married).
 - Brooklyn will go the year after that, when she is 10.  So her second turn will be when she is Sweet Sixteen, making her third turn at 22.  I will be shocked if she is still unmarried and/or living in this house at 22.
 - Savannah will go the following year, and since she will be 9 she might actually be able to reach the top of the tree with just a chair and not need a ladder or a boost on daddy's shoulders.  Her next turn will be at 15 and then again at 21 ... if she's home from college for the holidays.  :)
 - Catalina and Myra are the two youngest and they will each easily get three more turns.  But by that time, they will probably have to drag mommy and daddy into the living room to decorate the tree anyway.  So the only thing they will fight about is who has to wake up daddy and tell him to not be such a Scrooge!  :)


The future looks bright!

Oh wait ... maybe those are just all the Christmas lights.

...

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