Day 4: Reflections

Our home has 4 full bathrooms.  (Please know I'm not bragging, more like complaining, especially since my 5 year old is scared to flush a toilet right now, so you might end up with an unwelcome surprise).  The most logical place to do the elf graffiti would have been the girls' bathroom but that would have been too difficult to manage since it's right next to their bedroom.  So we set it up in my son's bathroom.  

Although my son is setting up each scenario, he is still playing the part in the mornings.  So when the kids got up in the morning to get ready for school, he stumbled into his bathroom and instantly called for his sisters.  They came flying down the stairs, tousled hair and pj's.  I think it took them a minute to figure out what Candy Cane had done.  Their first reaction of course was almost fear, like they were going to get in trouble for the markings on the mirrors.  I huffed and puffed and grumbled about how elves better start cleaning up their own messes.  However, there's not enough magic in the world for that to happen!

(Now, I must confess, this might not have been the brightest idea because it might give the kids the idea that it's ok to color on walls and other inanimate objects.  I'll let you know if that comes to fruition!)

Although we're really good at taking pictures of each set up, I'm horrible in following up with pictures of the girls discovering Candy each morning.  The morning work/school routine just makes it too difficult.  

Night 4: Elf Graffiti

So the other night little Candy Cane got very naughty and was tagging.  We actually had alot of fun using white-board, dry erase markers to graffiti all over the bathroom mirror.  We saw this idea on pinterest originally.  My mom drew a Santa beard and moustache right above the sink, so when you stand there it looks like it's on your face. 

Notice I am on the naughty list with my two older sisters and yet Miss Scarlett is the only one on the nice list?  My mom did that, but I protest, it should be the other way around!  My dad got a laugh over the Santa beard though when he went to wash his hands because it lined up perfectly. 

 

My mom put on a big show in the morning proclaiming that Elf needs to start cleaning up her own messes. 

Day 3: Elf Hunting

Yesterday morning was the first day back to school for my kids following the week long Thanksgiving break.  My 5 year old, Lilyana, is always a bear to wake up in the mornings.  I come in to their room each morning singing, "Good morning, Go-o-od morning, ain't it great to stay up late?!"  The lights are turned on bright and I do a body rub down to start to stir her, and she normally finds the edge of her covers and pull them over her head and pulls it tight so I can't remove her covers.  Then we transition into a full-on tickle war so she loosens her grip on her covers and I yank them off.  It takes the two girls about 20 minutes simply to get dressed.  However, yesterday was different.  I went in to wake them up and they both popped up like bread out of a toaster.  There was a rush of sleepy words, "Can we go find Candy Cane before we get dressed?  Please?  Pretty Please?"  I used my cell phone to capture video of them searching the house and I told them they only had 3 minutes to find her.

They raced downstairs and first searched near the fish tank where Candy Cane was fishing the morning before.  I gently hinted that she might be in a different room this time.  They each passed right by her at least 3 times.  Time was up, I told them to start getting ready and maybe they'd find her when they weren't exactly looking for her, and just then my 5 year old let out a squeal and a giggle as she spotted Candy Cane stuck in our vase.  I was still capturing video and caught my 5 year old gingerly touch Candy Cane.  

I'm trying to find a way to get the video loaded to share, but it's not working right now.  But as we played it back my 7 year old, Isabella caught Lily touching the elf on the play back.  Lily denied it, until she saw it herself on camera.  She was embarrassed.  It was cute.  

Night 3: Candy Cravings

I'm sorry. I tried to get this out yesterday, but today was the first day back to school and I needed some sleep. We figured that elves like to eat candy, because of the traditional Christmas candy, candy cane (kind of ironic due to the fact that our elf's name is Candy Cane). So we had Candy Cane diving head-first into one of our gigantic decorative vases for some candy.

Unfortunately, we did not have any candy canes so we just used some of my sisters (hehehe) Halloween candy. I made this quick because I was tired, but hopefully, I will get back into the swing of things and go all out on wrecking havoc throughout the house. My mom will blog the results soon and I'll blog the next hiding spot at about nine or nine-thirty tonight. 29 days remaining!

Day 2: Caught the Big One

So my girls were tickled pink over seeing our little Candy Cane fishing in the fish tank, but I think they're not used to jumping out of bed yet just to hunt for our mischievous little elf.  It was late in the morning by the time they discovered Candy hauling in her catch and I was in the midst of getting ready for church that I missed most of the conversation.  My nephew was concerned for our actual fish, worried he might have been hooked, but was assured to see our fancy guppy swimming freely.

Sadly I don't have any reveal pictures from this morning, but I ran into many friends who don't have children and have no idea what Elf on the Shelf actually is.  Well, as we all know Santa is a very busy man and so he sends his "scout" elves to live in each child's home.  Each family adopts an elf, which are available  with different features such as eye/skin/hair colors, the basic elf comes with a soft red fleeced body, and a very vintage doll face.  However, you can also purchase a skirt and make your elf a girl, as our family has.  When you "adopt" your elf, they come with a story book, and you get the opportunity to name your elf.  Once your elf has been adopted and named, and the story has been read, your elf is filled with Christmas magic.  Each night, after the kids have gone to bed, the elf uses his/her Christmas magic to travel back to the North Pole to report to Santa on the day's behavior.  Kids are also cautioned never to touch their elf or the elf will lose his magic.  Then the elf returns after reporting to the big man himself and always gets into mischief as he waits for the children to awaken in the morning and find them once again.  They often makes messes and get into tangles, but this makes the magic even more fun.  Then on Christmas eve the elf will make it's last trip to the North Pole, and remain there until the next holiday season, dreaming of all the mischief they will get into next time!  To learn more, watch the animated holiday special "Elf on the Shelf Presents an Elf's Story" on December 14th on CBS, 9:30 p.m. EST.

Since tomorrow everyone is back to school from the Thanksgiving break, all my kids have gone to bed early.  My son did manage to set up the next stunt, however he has gone to bed.  He will blog pictures tomorrow afternoon...  Until then, we'll just keep you guessing about where Candy will pop-up next!

Night 2 - Mission Impossible

As stated in my mom's blog earlier, my cousins are spending the night. It was very hard to even talk about setting up the elf, but we managed to do something anyways.

My mom went into the front room, away from the living room, to set up the elf. My two cousins Isaiah (12) and Noah (7) were luckily both intensely focused on fighting zombies, so they did not notice her. Little Candy Cane is now fishing in our fish tank. We have seen pictures like this before, but in a toilet with goldfish crackers. We went authentic and used a real guppy fish.... the pole however is, in fact, a pencil with a curly ribbon attached to the eraser with a push pin. Candy Cane is not the greatest fisher in the world because she caught a rock which is no where near the guppy. Tomorrow will be more eventful and thought out, because by then it will just be me, my mom, and my dad. I'm just glad we were able to do the impossible mission. My mom will blog my sisters' and cousins' reactions. Good night. 31 more days and counting.

Day 1 - Special Delivery

So, as my son Christian reported to you all in our earlier post, his plan went off without a hitch.  It was actually easier than we thought and didn't require too much sneaking around.  The girls were conveniently, and unknowingly cooperating with our plans since they were so engrossed in their morning playtime that they didn't notice daddy slip out to put the package on the porch, ring the doorbell, then slip back in the house.

The girls are always instantly excited whenever the doorbell rings since company could always mean a play date!  I pretended to be too busy to answer the door, so I told my oldest daughter to open it. She was almost suspicious because she never gets to open the door.  She protested because she couldn't see through the peephole.  (Good girl)  But I reassured her that since I was home and was watching it would be ok.  She immediately saw the package as soon as she opened the door, and her reading has vastly improved so she was able to identify all the names on the package, as well as the fact that it was from Santa Claus in the North Pole.

My oldest here, Isabella, wouldn't stop jumping up and down so she appears blurry, but the expression on my younger daughter, Lily, was too priceless not to share with you all!

They asked daddy to remove the tape, and both of them instantly squealed, "CANDY CANE!"  My husband was impressed that they had remembered the name they gave our Elf.  My oldest is a marshmallow eating monster, so she instantly gobbled the marshmallows, which were supposed to be snowballs.  After she ate them, we told her it was actually elf poop...  She bletched and dramatically scraped the surface of her tongue! 

 

So the girls were very excited and today marks the first official day of the Christmas season, even though it isn't even December yet.  

This evening we hosted a late Thanksgiving dinner with my family, so my sister and her children all came over.  We placed Candy on our shelf, and of course when the boys all tried to touch her my girls kept yelling that they couldn't touch her, or she would lose her magic, and my nephews kept tormenting the girls by constantly poking the elf.  

My in-laws, who are from Mexico, also came to the dinner.  Unfortunately, my father-in-law was ill over Thanksgiving and was unable to join the family celebration.  So we invited them to our home to participate with my small family dinner.  They had no clue what Elf on the Shelf even was.  I tried to explain, but I still don't think they understand at all! 

Tonight will be a challenge since my nephews are all spending the night, and here it is 11:30 pm and they are still all up playing video games.  My youngest nephew is 7 and as the youngest of his family, he is starting to question the reality of Santa Claus for the first time this year, so my son can't really plan or set up Candy Cane.  I might try to sneak a quick change while my nephew is engrossed in the television.  We will check in soon...   

The Arrival

Since we started the tradition today, we decided to have a semi-big arrival. Obviously last year was little Candy Cane's first year on the job, because she/he was not very creative. Sadly we think my sisters have forgotten all about Candy. Well, apparently out little elf learned new tricks as stated in her letter.

Candy Cane came in a little cardboard box from the North Pole with a little letter attached. My mom wrote the letter with her left hand to make it sloppy, because come on, how is a small elf supposed to hold a pen let alone write with it? There were little marshmallows, or snowballs, along with the two other items.

Candy Cane has not started her new little pesky tricks... Yet.  Hopefully the official Santa stamp helped get the elf here safely. Now the box is to me and my sisters, because I must act surprised to keep the Christmas magic going.

When we all wake up tomorrow morning, my dad will take the box from the garage and go out through the back, ring the door bell, and then rush back inside. My mom will then tell my sisters to answer the door for our little guest. My mom will blog the reaction along with a few pictures tomorrow.

Introduction

Day 1 of only 32.  Seems easy enough, but last year I found most nights I was too tired, uninspired, or just plain forgot...  (That was always hard to explain.)  What am I talking about?  Well our Elf on the Shelf of course!  We just started the tradition last year and my four children, Christian (now 12), Isabella (7), Lilyana (5) and Scarlett (2) were always excited each morning to try to find Candy Cane (This is our Elf's name.  In a house full of girls of course Candy wears an Elf skirt!)

This year however, I've enlisted a little help from my son...  I showed him a few other inspirational blogs to get ideas and now he's taken over.  The next 32 days will be his mission, should he choose to accept it, is to come up with the most creative and crazy set ups.  He will be reporting to you each evening with his set up, and I will report each day with the girls' responses.  Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions for Christian that he might use...