Raise your hand if you are ready for your children to return to normal bedtimes. Yes, I know it’s winter vacation. My children remind me of that every time I ask them to do ANYTHING. I asked them when I get a vacation from responsibility. The response was a blank stare. I didn’t get to celebrate my new “December 26th is Moms’ Day Off” holiday. Maybe if more people participated, we could pull it off in 2008. In the meantime, my house is a mess and my children are tired. They don’t seem capable of recognizing it, but they are tired. It doesn’t even matter that my children range from preschooler to teenagers. They are ALL cranky pants by afternoon. It’s not just their moods that are affected by these late night make the entire living room a tent and drag out every toy you own marathons. During the day, I play firefighter and deal with each spill, boo-boo and micro drama as it occurs. It is impossible to make progress on anything, but I try to keep up with the chaos. Once the children are all in bed, I work my way across the main floor of the house and put things in their places. When it’s done, I get to relax. Since school vacation started, I haven’t been able to keep up with the children OR their messes. Every night I collapse in bed exhausted and unhappy that I wasn’t able to complete my evening clean-up routine. I need bedtimes to return! What? New Year’s Eve is a stay up late holiday? Sigh. Can bedtimes return on January 1st?