Elf on a Shelf

This year, I'll be honest, it doesn't feel that much like Christmas time yet.  Even though the house is all decorated, the Christmas lights are up outside and shopping is a little over half done.  I told Dusty I think it has a lot to do with preparing for Charlotte's arrival.

But, with only 3 weeks left until my due date, and only 16 days left until my delivery date, and the knowledge that I could easily go sooner than that, I'm tired, sore and feel like a gross, waddling penguin most days with no desire to put on anything other than sweats 10 times too big.  My feet hurt, I'm swollen, I have heartburn and I just cannot battle the mall and craft fairs and so on right now.  I feel terrible for it, but I just do not have the physical energy.

To make up for it, I plan on doing twice as much next year (yeah, we'll see how that goes with a 1, 3 and 9 year old...) and introducing Elf on a Shelf to our family.  I figure it would be Christmas magic I could add without leaving the house and walking excessively.

Originally, I planned on bringing the elf in the day after Thanksgiving.  That's when we usually do our Christmas decorating.  But, Thanksgiving was so early this year, and Dusty thinks it's ridiculous to decorate before December.  So, I opted to wait it out a little.  We would decorate on Saturday the first and the Elf could arrive on the 2nd.  Sure, not a traditional day, but oh well.  It works for our family.

I had a long list scheduled of what the elf would do each morning.  It included a lot of cool photo ops and factored in the fact that it had to be left higher than Samantha can reach.

Yeah, what I didn't count on would be the fact that for the last several nights, I'm still fighting to get Samantha to sleep at midnight, even when naps are skipped and she is sufficiently tired.  She just hates to actually go to sleep.  I also didn't factor in the fact that she would take such an interest in ripping open the presents under the tree, or that Kaitlyn would be feeling so dramatic the last few days or how much decorating would wear me out.  Who would have thought that putting 90% of the ornaments on the tree before realizing you put on the wrong lights and having to then weave out those lights and put up the new ones, in addition to decorating the other "main" rooms of the house would be so freaking exhausting.

Luckily, I had already typed out the letter a few days in advance, the elf had already been delivered and all I had to do the first night was stick it in the tree, put out the letter, some paper, the book and some new jammies and I could go to bed.

This is day 1:

Our letter:

Which reads:

Dear Kaitlyn and Samantha,

Every year, I pick some of my favorite, although sometimes naughty elves to spend the holiday season with  different families.  These elves are just learning about Christmas and really need your help.  They help me by  keeping really good notes about your behavior, and you help them by teaching them about the magic of Christmas time.  You also help by setting good examples of how we should behave all year long.

Since the elves I send do not know a lot about people or about Christmas, they are not always that great about staying safe. I really need both of you to help me keep this little elf safe and sound!  One way to keep the elf safe is to make sure you never, ever even think about touching the elf.  Touching him will cause him to lose some of his magic and then he will not be able to fly around every night to make his reports about how you are doing.  This would make your elf very sad indeed.  Elves are very shy  little creatures  when he knows you’re awake.   His voice is so soft and he is just a young one at almost 475 years old!  Can you believe his birthday is December 10th? He will not talk to you, but he may leave
you notes if you make him feel at home enough.

I decided to send Jinx the elf down to be a part of your family.  I chose Jinx for a few very special reasons.  I’ve watched you both all year and have had so much fun watching the both of you grow and go on so many adventures.  Jinx loves reading and being read to.  His favorite foods are marshmallows and apples.  He really likes the Bubble Guppies and is known to get into some tight spaces in order to make sure he can see everything.

On Christmas Eve, Jinx will come back home with me after I leave your home.  If Jinx has a really good time, he  might be able to come back next year!  I can’t wait to see you both at the end of the month and to meet your new baby sister!  I sent down a book all about Jinx and some new pajamas for each of you!  I  hope you remember to mind your manners,keep your rooms clean and be nice to your mommy, daddy, each other and all of your family and friends so Jinx has a good report to give back!  I can’t wait to get your Christmas letters!  I sent some of my special stationary down with Jinx so you can get started on those letters!  Merry Christmas girls!

Our Elf this morning:

Kaitlyn has enjoyed looking for him.  But, she says she only believes it about 50%.  She says it just doesn't make any sense.  She wants to know why it doesn't blink, why it doesn't move throughout the day, and how it can go an entire day without eating.

I am probably going to have him write a letter saying he's embarassed but sleeps with his eyes open, like Kaitlyn and Samantha both do, he's nocturnal, as most elves are and see how that helps.  Samantha does not care at all about him.  Which, I figured.  Samantha did write all over the letter Kaitlyn started to Santa, which led to her bawling and explaining she was taking Samantha's paper so now Samantha can't write a letter.  Which means I'm going to print out more paper.

Kaitlyn is also having a hard time understanding why Santa cannot make Monster High Dolls.  I explained they are trademarked and Santa has building elves and shopping elves.  The shopping elves buy the things they aren't allowed to make.  This all started because she wants a particular Monster High Doll.  A doll that normally goes for $20 (which, I already think is excessive) that is hard to find anywhere (regardless of Target's website and App saying it's in stock, the store clerk saying they have it in their hands and getting there to discover they are lying bastards who do not care that your belly is ginormous and the last thing you want to do is drive to every one, get a 2 year old in and out of her car seat only to discover they do not have it) and therefore selling online for $100-200.  Um, no thanks.  This Santa is not spending that much on a doll.  A doll she may not even care about in 6 months.

So, here's hoping Samantha goes to sleep at a decent hour tonight so I can get caught up on my sleep and get the energy to do something a little more creative...