If They Didn't Love this Thing....

I have such a love-hate relationship with our elf on the shelf.

(And remember, I was too cheap to buy a "real" one, we use an antique one that's been around forever.)

 

 

The kids love it. Love it. Love it.

 

I hate it since I can never remember to move the thing.

 

 

And I'm so tired of seeing pictures of elves taking marshmallow baths, fishing for goldfish crackers, and having sack races with other stuffed animals that I've vowed not to do anything I've seen a million times.

 

 

So, I've decided to put our Santa blackboard to good use and have Sam the elf leave them messages based on what we've been doing. So far so good.

 

 

My big plan for the elf was to not have him "appear" until after I got back from Houston.  That way I'd only have about two weeks worth of elving.

 

Sadly, my children awoke at 6:50 A.M. December 1st looking for the elf.

 

 

I heard them searching the house for him, calling for him. 

Oops. 

 

 

So I did what any good mom would do.

I totally blamed the no show of the elf on JR.

 

 

Thankfully, JR had had a spell of tween angst and had some kind of dramatic fit about something the night before.

I had Jason load them in the car for church while "Sam" wrote them a note about how he couldn't show up with such disrespectful behavior.

 

 

And that night, after a lovely angst free day, Sam did appear.

(Santa's usually holding a bell instead of an elf.)

So don't expect to see pictures of our elf taking a nap in a tissue box, but you will be able to see what's been going on around here lately.

 

Tomorrow: The elf and the geography bee