Christmas Traditions: Week One in the Life of Our Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf Tradition began in 2009 (it even says so in the back of the book), and each year my girls love when our elf (Addie) comes to visit in the month of December.  Last year Addie came the day after Thanksgiving…..but Thanksgiving was a whole week later last year!  So our new tradition is that the Elf will come visit us on December 1st.  That means there are only 23 nights that I can forget to move the silly thing around the house.  The first year I forgot to move the elf several times, but the girls were younger and much more forgiving.  Last year I set the alarm on my cell phone and didn’t forget nearly as often.  This year, I have that alarm set again and I am boasting a 100% elf moving rate.

The first night Addie came to visit she was on the picture frame shelf in the play room.  Dangling from the shelf was an Elf Returns Letter, with $1 for each girl paper clipped on to it.  The girls thought this was awesome.  Then our elf made it to the top of our Christmas tree followed by the window ledge above the kitchen sink.  Hilarity ensued when she was on the bathroom light with a bow of toilet paper tied around her leg.

The night that our Elf hung from the attic string was the girls next favorite.  She brought them each a gift of little ball ornaments to decorate the trees in their rooms with.  Big Sister said “I know what Addie’s like!  It’s like she’s from Totem (which is the Cirque du Soleil show).  The elf them moved to the fireplace mantle and then under the television.

On Saturday that sneaky little elf climbed in to the plastic container full of pretzels.  It took the girls for-ev-er to find Addie and they laughed for about five minutes when they finally found her.

I am so glad we started the Elf tradition.  The girls absolutely love it…and it makes getting up for school days so much more motivating since the race is on to find the elf.  Having another tradition to go with our Christmas Pickle Tradition is wonderful

You can get the boy Elf on the Shelf, girl Elf on the Shelf, Chistopher Popinkins, or elf plush dolls from Amazon.  Check Target and Hallmark for the Elf on the Shelf sets.