What Could Make Them Clean the House?

A miracle occurred today. The kids--the two oldest--cleaned the house with us. They dusted, wiped surfaces, and vacuumed all morning without complaint. Although they were excited that once the house was clean we'd put up Christmas decorations, I've convinced they just enjoyed working on a project together as a family.  I came to this conclusion for a couple of reasons. First, I noticed that they didn't bring up the promise we made about Christmas decorations, which is something they usually do when motivated by the promise of a reward. Second, they did not complain even when some of the decorating, including putting together our artificial tree, was pretty tedious. When cleaning spilled into the afternoon, the kids did act up a bit. There were some moments of frustration but nothing some wrestling couldn't fix.