A New Tradition

Last Christmas my mom gave us a gift called the Elf on the Shelf. I wasn't sure what it was when I opened it, but I was a little taken aback, because I thought the elf was a little scary looking. Brandon reminded me this year that I wasn't so nice about how scary I thought the elf was. So this year after we got all of our decorations out, I found the elf and the book that came with him. Once I took the time to read the book, I thought it was such a cute idea and I love all that it stands for. Growing up we believed in Santa, and we believed that he really knew whether we were naughty or nice. I am so excited to share this with Chloe because it is truly innocent and so sweet. So the first thing you do is place the elf on top of a shelf, and give him a name. So Chloe with all her two years of words decided to name him Christmas. So the story goes that every night Christmas goes to the North Pole to see Santa and tells him whether you were naughty or nice that day. Which is great for the parents because all's I have to say is, I hope that Christmas doesn't tell Santa on you. Except I am not sure what I will do when Christmas gets packed away for the next eleven months, but oh well. So then each night you have to move the elf and the next morning the child gets to search for him. Since he leaves each night he has to actually move so the child believes it. We had our first "search" this morning and it was so cute. Chloe woke up and stood up in her bed and said "momma, we got to find the elf" I was giggling because it was so cute, I swear she is the smartest kid ever. Oh, and one of the most important rules is, the elf will not talk to the children, and they cannot hold him. He only speaks to moms and dads and Santa Claus. This makes it very easy for us, because she loves to carry her dolls around everywhere we go. So I have to say sorry to my mom because of how I reacted last year but I love our new Christmas Elf and can't wait to carry on the tradition for years to come. xoxo