The Elf on the Shelf

Christmas is my favorite holiday!  My favorite part of it is all the Christmas traditions.  I like to take a trip down memory lane and think about the traditions I grew up on.  I remember my mom decorating the inside of our entire house...even the bathroom.  Now that is one I'm slowly working on for my own family.  I remember my Dad taking us into the woods (I'm a country girl) to pick out and cut down a Christmas tree...and no we didn't have to pay for it!  It was the woods for Pete's sake!  I also remember rushing home on Christmas Eve to go to bed early to allow Santa to do his work.

Hubby and I have been keeping up with traditions that we grew up on, while creating our own. Even though he is deployed, I try to continue with our traditions and incorporate him as much as we can.  One of our super fun traditions that we started last year thanks to my Aunt Deb, was the Elf on the Shelf!  My aunt sent "Elfie" to the kids and he made his debut at the beginning of December.  After reading the book and understanding NOT to touch the elf, the kids and us were excited.  Hubby and I had fun deciding what crazy things Elfie would get into next.  The kids had fun trying to find him daily.  This year Elfie made his debut when the Christmas tree went up, a day or two after Thanksgiving.  A few days later (thanks Amazon) Lily joined him.

Little Georgee left the elves a treat

Georgee was excited when Lily appeared!  He was tickled that Elfie had a girlfriend.  Gracee on the other hand said, "Santa sent us a girl elf, and she stole my barbie's skirt!"  Needless to say, she is still hung up on the skirt issue.  I'm almost afraid to "borrow" Lily another skirt, even though I didn't realize that Lily is a bit thicker than Barbie.

I never know what the elves will "cook" up.  Georgee is especially excited to try to find out where they are.  Each morning he rushes downstairs to try to find them.  Gracee on the other hand is getting older and not doing much believing anymore.  I really don't mind because I am not crazy about the whole Santa idea so we don't stress it in our house. We talk to them more about Jesus being born.  I do let them believe what they want because they are kids and it's fun, but for the most part they know that their parents decide on and buy their gifts.  Santa just may leave them one unwrapped gift.

I guess they had work to do

Last year Gracee believed that the elf was real, but this year I can tell that she has her reservations about this.  She has not said anything, but she isn't as into trying to find them every morning.  Georgee does question their realness by pointing out that they don't look real and look like dolls.  He also says that they freak him out because he feel that they are starring at him.

Every night I show Hubby on video chat where the elves are, and I always ask him for suggestions.  Last year he was the one that came up with the really cool elf spots.  His suggestions this year are in the kids bedrooms or bathrooms.  I told him that I am keeping them downstairs this year due to Georgee continuing to talk about being freaked out by the elves' eyes.  The boy already don't sleep through the night, so the last thing I need on my hands is elf nightmares!

So even though the holidays are tough for us with Hubby being deployed, I'm happy to see that my kiddos get a little bit of happiness every morning thanks to these elves.  Stay tuned to see what else the elves get themselves into with 12 days left until Christmas.