On the first day of Christmas, my two sons gave to me: some
help
Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, and not
just because I get a two-week break from my teaching job
– though that’s a nice gift.
From the lights, the presents, the food, having a fire in the
fireplace, wishing each other happy holidays; what’s not to like?
The answer is
”
the work involved.
”
On the first day of Christmas, my two sons gave to me: some help
Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, and not just because I get a two-week break from my teaching job – though that’s a nice gift.
From the lights, the presents, the food, having a fire in the fireplace, wishing each other happy holidays; what’s not to like? The answer is “the work involved.”
For the past decade and a half, the advent of the season has been a source of stress because of the responsibilities involved. Many people with children want to have a nicely-decorated home that is holiday-appropriate so that the kids get the full Christmas experience.
Christmas trees, ornaments, garland, exterior lights, Santa candles, a manger, inflatable snowmen; the list of expectations goes on and on. And until recently, that list was a big part of my to-do list because I am a parent.
My wife and I had to lug the boxed trees out of storage and open and separate the decorations that were stored in plastic totes. We each thought we knew how to put the trees together, but we only ended up getting frustrated with each other and mad at the fake trees.
For the exterior lights, I had to get out the ladder and climb up and down its rungs as I strung the cord along the gutter line. For a particularly challenging corner near a tree, I’d have to climb on the roof and risk my life and strain my knees for the sake of the holiday spirit.
Then I’d have to find the box that contained the string of lights that we put on some hedges in the front yard and then try to unravel it, which was as easy as solving the New York Times Sunday crossword without Googling anything.
Oh, the joy.
This year in the Breen household, things were different as Christmas came early when my teenage sons asked – or practically insisted – that they handle most of the holiday decorating duties.
Surely they wanted something in return, we thought. Why else would 14- and 16-year-old high-schoolers volunteer to do chores around the house? Were they feverish? Were they guilty of something? Did they lose a dare?
It turns out that it was none of the above. They volunteered because they had caught the holiday spirit and they didn’t want to wait for Dad to bumble through the decoration process.
When it was time to go to the storage unit to retrieve the decorations, my older son offered to drive – he has his permit and is about to get his license, so he’s willing to drive anywhere, even if we have to back the car out of the driveway to move the other car out of the garage. He did the heavy lifting and helped me load everything into the truck, and we even took a break from KDON to have Christmas music on the radio during our journey.
Back at home, the boys had the first Christmas tree assembled faster than my wife and I normally figure out which piece was the base. And they didn’t yell at each other or the tree in the process.
The second, smaller tree in another room went up even quicker, as my wife and I shot each other sideways glances as we wondered what was happening to our teens. We said nothing, though, so as not to jinx it.
Before I knew it, the older one had set up the ladder and was starting on the exterior lights while the younger one set out the manger and set up a miniature Christmas town on a table.
This strange, pre-Christmas miracle was the stuff of a Hallmark show. These kids even went on the Web to check the “25 Days of Christmas” schedule on the ABC Family network so they could figure out when to TiVo their favorite holiday programs.
The cause of this strange behavior could have been the sugar rush they had from Thanksgiving dessert overload, but since they continued to offer help as we added a few more lights and decorations this week, it seems like a permanent condition.
Our teens are still like other teens that have bouts of laziness followed by stints of surliness sprinkled in with embarrassment about being seen in public with their parents. But the spirit of the season and the family traditions that it encourages and supports appears to have had an impact on them.
They are maturing into young men who like their freedom and want to act like they are above the whimsical nature of childhood. Until, that is, the holidays roll around. We are all little kids at this time of year, excited about gifts, marveling at decorations, enjoying the fellowship. The spirit of the season apparently softens the hard edges in all of us, helping to break down even the rough veneer that has formed around teenage males.
It’s not a bad early Christmas present for parents. God bless us, everyone.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for the Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance.
