Geez mom, everybody knows your organized.....

In the paper today, there was an article about not getting stressed over the holidays.  I laughingly commented that I hardly ever felt stressed over the holidays....maybe every other thing, but honestly, not the holidays.  He said one word as he ate his leftover stew we were eating for lunch, ' organized'.....I just about choked on my stew, 'organized?!' I asked?  'Mom, you are so organized.  You have it all down so none of us ever feel stressed about Christmas and stuff.  We know what we're going to do every day.'  'Like what?', I asked.  'You know, Sunday night is advent night. Each week, we take turns reading and lighting the candles. We put the outside decorations up the week before Thanksgiving but don't turn them on until after Thanksgiving.  You put the tree up and all the inside decorations after Thanksgiving.  You've already bought the gingerbread house and all the stuff that we'll bake.  I've already delivered all the baked goods to the neighbors.  The week we're out of school, we'll decorate the gingerbread men.  We'll have soup and bread after church on Christmas eve, usually nanny and poppy come over.  Christmas eve, you'll set the fancy table for Christmas breakfast and we'll have that yummy french toast.'  He took a long sip of his soup as he looked over at me, 'Geez mom, everybody knows you're organized.' 

I was speechless for a full minute.  How in the world had my son, who can't even seem to find his shoes anymore by himself, list all the stuff in order that I do each year? It dawned on me that it was because each year I do things in the same order.  I guess I am pretty organized!  And golly, he had actually noticed! 

Maybe there is hope for him afterall!  He recognizes that being organized keeps the stress away! I'm hoping that some of that extra planning may be sinking into that teenage brain so when the smoke clears in a few years around that brain of his, he'll come out thinking a little extra planning is a good thing!