About 3 or 4 years ago a friend of mine told me about "The Elf on the Shelf". I remember coming home and telling my husband all about how she used it for her daughters & how one day when we had kids I wanted to do it for them.....for some reason, I just thought it was the best idea and something really fun for people to welcome into their Holiday traditions.
So last year my 1st born was a little over the age of 1, now even though I wanted nothing more than to buy it, I knew that patience would benefit me for this year....and I was right!!! We bought the Elf on the Shelf kit for our (now 2 boys) today at Target. It was $29.95 and although we really shouldn't have spent it, we did (I mean after all I did bid away $34 on Deal Dash (stay tuned for an upcoming blog on that fiasco) so how could I justify NOT buying this annual tradition that we could use for years in our home).
We read him the book, filled out his adoption certificate & explained how he cannot touch him or he'll lose his magic. So he was extremely attentive, didn't even attempt to touch him and let me put him away for the night so he could "fly away" to Santa and return after Thanksgiving.
And even though some think it's cheesy, dumb, keeping up with the Jones', etc.....I am overjoyed to start this tradition! I cannot wait to do silly things with "Richie" and take pictures for the boys to see later in life. I want Christmas to always be magical in our home. Luckily my husband agrees with this "idea". I intend to ALWAYS do fun things while they are young and before their too short youth gets ruined by naysayers and kids who's parents don't care if their child believes in Santa for years or not. I want them to go to bed with excitement and wake me at 5am because Santa came! And even thought at the ages they are now, 2 & 10 months, I know they won't remember this stuff.....yet, but I fully intend to take many pictures of Richie the elf, the boys interacting with him and anything else that I myself would love to have seen of myself as a child.
I might be a hopeless romantic, fairy tale, dream come true, Santa to really be real kind of girl, but it's just who I am and I hope that one day my son's will look back and thank me for making their childhood fun, loving & magical!
My parents weren't really the type to revel in our childhoods, we didn't go many places, we didn't have many traditions, don't get me wrong we had some - like we opened gifts on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day was reserved strictly for presents from Santa. (Something I fully intend to continue in our home) I think it makes Santa that much more special.
So my blog today isn't super funny, it's not a life lesson (yet) lol, but I'm excited to begin our Elf on the Shelf Journey and for anyone that is interested, you can watch the movie that will be aired on CBS sometime after Turkey Day!!!!
i think its an awesome idea!
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