Let me start off by say that Christmas is an amazing time to spend with your children no matter what age they are. It’s been fun watching my boys go from babies with no idea what’s going on, to toddlers who sort of got the idea. Then onto the “tween” years which may be the peak of excitement for Christmas morning. Once they hit the teenage years excitement for the holiday has waned a bit, but they still are excited about all the gift cards they’re about to receive. As a parent there are some real benefits to having teens at Christmas and here is my list of the top 3

3. They can drive, which means they can run to the supermarket and grab whatever last minute item you forgot to get.

2. They are not going to be up at the crack of dawn (or earlier) ready to tear thru a pile of gifts they’ll forget about in two weeks. If you’re lucky they’ll sleep until noon, and you’ll have a nice relaxing Christmas morning.

1. Lastly, and probably the best thing… NO MORE ELF ON THE SHELF!