I've been extremely busy, but I absolutely love this time of year. Christmas is my favorite holiday (always has been, with Thanksgiving in 2nd place). Our tree is up (albeit not decorated yet, but I'll get to that soon), Christmas lists are made, our wreath is hung, and we have an elf on our shelf.
A what?
Less than a week ago, I had never heard of The Elf on the Shelf. But after hearing about it from a friend, I looked it up and fell in love with the idea. I ordered one for our home promptly.
The idea is that a tiny scout elf watches little children during the day, and at night, while everyone is sleeping, he flies back to the North Pole, reports both good and bad behavior to Santa, and returns to the home before children wake up. Upon his return, he chooses a different hiding spot, which means it becomes a fun morning game to spot his new location. The rules clearly state that he must not be touched (that makes him lose his magical Christmas powers), and that while kids should talk to him and share secrets or their Christmas wishes, he cannot talk back to them. Also, the elf becomes magical as soon as children decide on a name for him.
After sharing all of this information with the boys this morning, and reading the book that came along with our elf, the boys began hunting for his hiding spot. They looked under furniture, in the bathroom, inside Jacob's backpack, in our tent, and in the Christmas tree. I finally suggested they try looking up high since perhaps our elf was afraid Hailey might eat him.
And then they spotted him up high on our mantel.
They were fascinated. Especially Jacob.
And so began the line of questioning about our new friend.
"What's he made of?"
"Is he real?"
"What's inside his body?"
"Is he gonna fly?"
"Is Santa his friend?"
"Can he talk?"
"Where are his feet?"
After I answered their barrage of questions, it was time for the boys to choose a name for our elf.
Alex suggested, "What about Santa Claus?"
Jacob suggested, "How about Handsome?"
And finally, Jacob chose a name that all of us liked. Smiley!
"Because he's smilin'!"
They have already shared their Christmas wishes with him, and a little while ago, I heard Jacob say, "I love you, Smiley Elf."
So far, Smiley's watchful eye is a helpful tool to remind the boys about good behavior ("Uh-oh, Smiley may have to tell Santa about that.").
And I'm excited to begin a new Christmas tradition in our family.
I love Christmas.
3 comments:
What a cute idea! I saw on FB that someone in Dina's family runs this company? That's awesome. Can't wait to get one when C is older.
Oh, I love our elf, Max- Bella's behavior has been on the straight and narrow since he made his debut in our house :)
Kerri- I think Dina's husband's aunt did the illustrations of the elves. Very awesome!
Claire- I think Jacob was expecting the elf to be a tiny human, and has said, "Our elf is a toy." I'm having to explain that he's only human & magical at night when we can't see him. :)
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