Where did it all go wrong?

Alright, I am sure that you are wondering what we did this weekend. It's Monday, that's the typical inquiry you get, so here goes... In a nutshell, we forced the children into hard labor. The Big Day (Christmas with my parents) is approaching quickly. Every other year, my sister and I take turns "hosting the parents". Don't get me wrong, I have a great time with them, have dinner made for me every night, play games, and more, but I can never seem to get my house prepared for their visit. It ALWAYS comes down to the last minute. SO, this year, is the first year we started 'early'. We started upstairs, hoping to get the worst parts over first, not unlike eating your brussel sprouts on your dinner plate and saving the steak and potatoes last. We basically purged and rearranged both kids' rooms, and then started on our room. We extricated 3 bags of giveaway clothing from Vivian's Room, and 2 bags from Christian's Room. The kids were both 'required' to help do this in each of their respective rooms. And I only had to make Santa Threats a few times. The kids are super excited about their new "rooms"... and then we moved onto the Master Bedroom. Ummm... Yeah... I quickly saw my dreams of a completely clean and tidy upstairs poof away. I also came to a quick realization that not cleaning your closet for 15 years is a BAD THING. So far, we are up to 18 bags for Salvation Army/Kidney Foundation. And we didn't even finish. There is still so much to do, and I am hoping and praying that we can finish this week upstairs, so that we can start downstairs next weekend. Not to mention, at some point in the next 2 weekends, we need to go Christmas shopping and hang up our decorations.... not to mention the regular home maintenance that needs to happen, too... AHHHHHH! Feeling a little crazy and panicky now...