This morning, as I stumbled to the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee, I noticed a palpable silence in the house.  I waited, thinking perhaps I was just not fully awake yet.

No, there was no sign of children scampering about.

Since that normally means they have all overslept – but that is an impossibility after the time change last weekend – I yelled upstairs for them to report to me.

Only Matthew came, but he was fully clothed and appeared ready for school.  I asked what was going on upstairs that was keeping them all so quiet and he informed me that he and Samuel were decorating Samuel’s room for Christmas!  They were taping pretend money on his wall – and not only that, but Samuel was going to pay Matthew $5 for helping him!

So many issues to confront all at once on so little caffeine.

I told Matthew that not only would he not get paid, the two of them might be removing all that money together – after school (translation: after I have had some coffee and time to inspect the damage).

Scampering back upstairs, I heard Matthew reporting this to Samuel.  He then yelled back down to me “Mommy!  Samuel has lowered his price to $1.25!”.

Because nothing says Christmas like money taped to the wall