You'll never believe it, but this phrase, as of last night, is now one of the most commonly uttered things in our house. I myself am a little surprised.
I think I started my new favorite Christmas Tradition last night. On the good advice of my friend Melissa (thank you thank you!) I have begun the tradition of "The Elf on the Shelf." I guess this is a book you can buy that comes with a little elf and it costs like 30 bucks or something. I just took myself down to Tai Pan and picked out a cute little guy for $6. Then, starting December 1st, the elf gets to hang out on a shelf (or, in our case, in the treat basket on top of the fridge today) and keep an eye on the kids all day. He reports back to Santa at night, thus appearing on a different shelf each morning. Rules? Kids can't touch but they can talk to him all they want.
Last night, being Monday, we had a quick family home evening after we held the season's first viewing of Rudolf. I wasn't sure how warmly the kids would take to this idea of a little dolly perched someplace in our house for a whole month and me using him as bribery for good behavior. Stupid me. I pulled out our elf, and started telling the kids that he is a real Santa's helper and everything. Their eyes grew wide with amazement and awe. They had all sorts of questions about him (wish I had thought through some answers sooner - answering those things on the fly is a bit of a task...) and we picked his name, Cornelius (in honor of Yukon Cornelius, of course). The kids have been nothing short of hilarious, talking to him, telling on each other to him, and believing in his purpose with great gusto. This is so fun. Last night Troy had to actually leave the room to go and laugh, while I was left to try to smother my snickers as the kids faithfully reported to Cornelius all of their good deeds, all of their Christmas hopes and dreams. They wish him good evening and good morning, they ask his opinion on important matters, and Stomper even apologized to him after being a stinker to me. Huh. I'm trying to figure out how to get Cornelius to stick around for a while...
5 comments:
I love your Cornelius! What a great name. (I tried to get my kids to chose some other than Fred, but they weren't inteterested.) And what a cute little elf. I hope the magic sticks around for you for a loooonnnng time.
Sorry, I meant interested.
I love it! I am totally going to do this when my kid gets a bit older.
Dude! I heard about this from one of the radiologists at work today. He was totally pumped about it! They have done it for a couple of years now. The kids are completely wrapped around the little elf's finger. We'll have to do it next year - Tommy's still a little too clueless. So funny.
That is awesome! And he's a cute elf, too. Kids are great.
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