Elf on the Shelf

Last year I debated about getting our family an Elf on the Shelf. If you haven't heard about this, it's a Christmas tradition where your family has an elf that visits you during the Christmas season and every night the elf reports back to Santa on the behavior of the child.

It's like a Santafied version of bribery.

And I love it.

So last year we decided not to buy the book just yet and then to my surprise, my Mom got the book for me for Christmas. I was so excited about getting it! I hid the book and the elf until last night and we brought it out and introduced the story of the Elf on the Shelf to Jackson.

The idea is very simple:

1. Each family names their elf and welcomes them to the family.

2. No one is allowed to touch the elf because he will lose his magic power to visit the North Pole.

3. The elf watches (and listens) to what is going on with the child and reports back to Santa each night.

4. The child can talk to the elf all they want, but the elf (under Santa's rules) can't talk to the child. He can only listen.

5. When the child wakes up in the morning the elf is hiding in a new place and the child gets to find him again.

It was a huge hit! We read the book to Jackson after bath time and then I told Jackson that Santa called me during work and told me that he was sending an elf to our house. We played it up big and then sent Jackson off to hunt through the house for his elf.

Jackson on the prowl for his elf!

I spy, with my little eyes, our elf friend!

Jackson finally spotted his elf and was SOOO excited about finding him! He promptly decided to name him Buzz Lightyear, because seriously, isn't that the first "elfish" name that comes to mind!

Our only snafu was that I thought that Jeremy had put Jackson down for the night and I decided to go ahead and move Buzz to his next spot. Well, imagine my surprise when Jackson and Jeremy appear in the living room wanting to see Buzz "just one more time" and he was already gone! Jeremy and I played it up like Buzz thought that Jackson was already asleep and since it was such a long trip to the North Pole that if Jackson goes back to his bed and calls for Buzz that he could probably come back really quick. I hightailed it to put Buzz back into his old spot and waited for Jackson to finish hollering for Buzz and I wish I had a picture of Jackson's face when he saw that Buzz was back! It was priceless and precious! The excitement that Jackson had for his new friend was absolutely contagious!

This morning Jackson woke up to find that sneaky Buzz hiding out next to a dear friend of his. Apparently, Buzz found a picture of Santa on our fridge and sat on our TV trays so he could be close to Santa!

It's going to be such a fun time of the year with our little man! Stay tuned for Buzz's next appearance!