You know your kids are getting older at Christmas when…

Christmas, with all its traditions, marks time for all of us, with the annual photos of us all in traditional poses, changing slowly over the years, but it’s most marked in how our kids change over the years. You may notice some of the following if your kids are now in school and beyond the toddler years.

1. You decorate the tree and only need one drink. And NO ornaments are broken.

2. Your kids organize themselves into “odd” and “even” days to open the Advent calendar.

3. Your children are graduating from roles as shepherds and cows in the Christmas pageant to speaking roles.

4. Your older child writes out the Santa letter for the one who still can’t do more than print his name.

5. You bake cookies with the kids and they help clean up. You see a note in the cookbook that the process used to take four hours.

6. You can’t tell if your oldest child says she believes in Santa Claus just to please you, or to make sure she gets the presents you’ve said are only for those who believe.

It’s bittersweet, but there are rewards as kids grow older, help more, and can understand the traditions you’ve created for them.