Inappropriate Elf: A Thief In The Night....

When Jill over at Baby Rabies announced she was going to be holding her Inappropriate Elf on the shelf contest again this year I was thrilled and immediately began to think of things I could do. So, this is what I came up with. There's a story to it, so we decided to play it all out and write it up for you all to view! ENJOY...

Elfie - A Thief In The Night............

 

 T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house the family was frantic, couldn't find their dear Elf. On dad's way out the door to work once again, little Jordan saw Elfie and screamed, "Oh no! not again!"

Dad didn't hear and kept on truckin', dear little Elfie was chucklin'..

 

Elfie hopped off dad's jacket and hid in a shoe, He said "haha, heehee I guess I fooled you!"

 Alas, it's night's end.. And nobody's near, time to crack the code, Elfie gave a big cheer!

 Open sesame, Open sesame it's time to get movin', once inside this here safe Elfie's comfortably groovin'...

 He's in hangin' out with some sweet smellin' cash, Now it's that time of night, to take all the stash. 

I wonder how much is left in the till...?

Holy cow he made it, oh what a thrill!!.......

Oh what a thug, that Elfie I say... He took Christmas money and said HAVE A NICE DAY!!

The End.

Excitement!

Yesterday after we did some shopping I decided we needed to put our tree up. We usually have it up by now but we've been busy. 

I went to the basement into our cold room/storage room to dig out all the tree stuff. I couldn't find any of the decorations for the tree, not even the strings of lights! I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on then I remembered we threw it all out last year. Well, the lights anyway. They were all breaking and we didn't want to do multi-colored lights anymore. A lot of the balls and decorations got broken so while we did have some, the majority of them were garbage.

So I nursed the baby and ran to the store to grab some lights and decorations. I got the last 7 packs of clear lights which I am so thankful for because the clear looks so much better than the multi-colored, right?

Husband put the tree up while I grabbed the kids from school after finishing up at the store (I spent 5 minutes in the store, I grabbed everything and off I went!) when we got home there was some drama with kids not listening, and my oldest being put in his room for a bit. Once that was all settled it was time to do the tree. I let the kids decorate it however they wanted. We of  course were standing with them as I always make it a "family thing" but I let them put everything where they wanted. Every single year we all usually put the stuff on, but I get very obsessive over the tree. I would move balls around, fix garland and I ended up knocking the tree town SO MANY TIMES. Not good, so I promised them they could do it all and I wouldn't touch it what-so-ever. I haven't either, and I don't plan to. They did an amazing job and it looks fabulous!

The only thing left for us to do is the outside lights. Hubs needs to get his butt in gear and get on it. He's hoping to do it Thursday when he's off for some appointments. I'm just hoping the snow they predict doesn't end up coming because he will be mighty cold!

This morning I was woken up to loud, loud screams of "Elfie's here! Elfie's here Mom!" it was so adorable.... It came from #2, #3 and #4. Jordan is a bit too old, and Jackson/Justin are too young still. But it was so cute to wake up to. 

He of course found some of the extra garland we didn't use, hung it to the ceiling light in the living room and is just hanging out! 

All morning all we heard was "Can Elfie talk? Will he talk to us?" and "Oh, I can't wait to see where he is tomorrow morning!" the fun in this little stuffed Elf is completely heartwarming. Just an added bonus to make this time of year even more special than it already is! I am completely in the mode now, look out everyone!

Next up? Christmas shopping. Can you believe a Christmas freak like me has only bought 1 gift? My husband's. How awful right? I am hoping to go this Thursday when hubby has an extra day off for some appointments during the day. Justin and I can bundle up and head on out. I don't even know where to begin. I'm very disappointed in myself for not starting sooner. I hate crowds and I hate waiting until the last minute. This will be fun.......

It's almost that time again...

In a few short weeks it will be Christmas. Last year we started the tradition of Elf On The Shelf like a lot of other families all over the world. We didn't agree to use Elfie to scare our kids. We simply use Elfie as another way to bring Christmas joy into our home and created our own fun with him. Sure, Elfie came from the North Pole and does go every single night back to the North Pole to let Santa know what our family has done during the day BUT -- My kid's aren't terrified or scared of what might happen if they misbehave and Elfie goes back to visit Santa at night. Instead, Elfie is here so my kids can SHOW ELFIE how to be a good Elf and teach him things he doesn't know. My kids are his teachers basically.

We turned it around and instead of using it as a scare tactic, we use it as a tool to have them show what they know. My kids aren't awful during the year anyways, sure they have their moments and I can get really frustrated with how my girls behave at times but they are really great kids. They don't need to be scared into behaving. I don't believe that is what these Elves are for anyways.  

Have you ever seen the movie?

We watched the movie last year and my kids loved it. My kids love waking up every single day to see where Elfie landed after his long trip back to the North Pole. They love knowing anything they've taught Elfie that day will be reported back to Santa and maybe some other elves can learn too. It's fun for them.

Last year Jayden would color while Elfie hung on the picture behind the table - I'd catch him showing Elfie and saying "You have to stay in the lines"  he really enjoyed it, and he was only 3. 

We didn't say Elfie was a bad elf, or needed to be taught how to behave. I just told them he was here to learn and tell Santa what he learns! It's fun, a happy experience and they really enjoy it. I think if we used it as a scare tactic they would laugh and not take it seriously, at all.

My oldest who is 10 doesn't believe in Santa and hasn't for a few years - thanks to other kids ruining it for him a few years back, and us not able to save that for him. But he still plays along and it's even fun for him. And no, he's not mad at us or damaged for him believing for 7 years there was a Santa. I'm not either and I thought there was a Santa until I was 9 or 10.

Are we lying to them? I guess so, but I don't think it will damage them. It's no more of a lie than them thinking Santa is real. This is something fun and gives us something to do during the holiday's that is different than we're used to! I know people have an issue with these elves, and sometimes I've even heard people bashing those who let their kids believe in Santa. We all do what we do with our families, this is just something we do with ours to enjoy the holiday and I really think my kids learn a lot from teaching, even if it is a stuffed elf. It's fun for kids... let kids be kids for a little bit, they only get to be this age once!