Elfcapades

Our December was very exciting this year, as our family was chosen to be "elf trainers".

On the morning of December 1st, we received a letter from Santa explaining the training procedure. 

Our elf's name is Jingle. 

            This is his first year of training, and because he is so young, he hasn't quite learned that some secrets of the North Pole need to be kept. So, to keep Jingle from spilling any secrets to us, Santa used some magic to turn him into a doll during the day, but he can come alive at night to explore and report back to Santa each night. Sometimes we are given tasks to help Jingle learn, such as sharing, giving, kindness, and even cleaning! 

             As part of his training, Jingle will report to Santa each night, about how our household is behaving. The children are to also write a report to Santa on what they have done to train Jingle that day. We were given a binder to keep all our records in. At night, the kids sprinkle some magic dust on the elf so he can return to the North Pole. Jingle also brought the kids some new pajamas as a Thank You for helping him learn to be a good elf.

The next morning, we found Jingle in the bathroom. Apparently he was fascinated by the teeth-brushing thing...

One morning, we found that he had built a fort using the food we were collecting for the Salvation Army Food boxes.

reading Stories to babies....

Setting the table for Breakfast....

Jingle also met new friends, like the Grinch. It looks like Jingle won their last boxing match!

Chelsea took her role as Elf Trainer, very seriously. She took him to learn about the nativity, by going to the pageant Michael's preschool put on. 

We taught them to make treats for neighbors.

And to wrap presents..

Jingle was having so much fun at our house, that he asked if his Sister, Belle, could come too!

Belle wasn't due for training until next year, but Santa said she could come if we said it was all right. 

The morning we met Belle, they were eating popcorn and had finished watching Belle's favorite movie: Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Belle and Jingle had lots of fun together, including a snowball fight:

Sliding....

marshmallow roasting....

 flying.....

(I guess they were trying to save their mischievous friend, the Grinch, who had gotten stuck in the light fixture.)

Whheeeeee!!!!

Baking....

And even cleaning on the night before Christmas Eve, so we could spend the day together as a family, instead of cleaning. (This was my personal favorite!)

There were a few tears shed on Christmas Eve, as we will dearly miss our new elf friends. But Santa has said if we're good, they can return next year!

(We fed them Crackers and water each night)

Christmas Traditions

Christmas, like most people, is my favorite holiday. It used to be about Santa Claus for me, but now that I'm grown up, I think it's the joyful spirit it brings. I love the excitement in the air. I actually think the holiday is more fun as a mom as I watch Chelsea's anticipation grow. So, I was talking with my oldest brother the other day, about all the traditions we had growing up. There are so many out there that people do, and I love hearing and learning about them, especially as a young family where we are picking and choosing which traditions we will do.

When I was younger the best part of Christmas was waking up to find out how Santa had messed up again. There was always some kind of accident that resulted in a day-long search of our presents. But, before that hunt could begin, we had to be showered, dressed, and rooms cleaned before we could go downstairs to even see what we were in for. Our parents made sure of that, usually be baracading the stairs with a door they had taken down somewhere.

When we finally made it to the tree, we would find our stuffed stockings which usually contained toothbrushes, deodorant, nuts, oranges, MAYBE some candy, and a big bag of cold cereal. (Growing up, Christmas was THE only time we had cold cereal). Then we would begin our adventure. Sometimes Santa couldn't find our new address (if we'd moved), so we would have a treasure hunt that led us all over town with the presents at the neighborhood park. Another time he was ran out of time and needed our help to do some of his chores. This resulted in another type of treasure hunt that was made up of tasks we had to complete, such as caroling at the nursing home, making cookies for our neighbors, acting out the nativity, etc. After each task, the person would give us our nest task/clue until we finally got to our presents.

Another year we woke up to find our home as a huge web. Trixy and Pixie, Santa's helper elves had been wrestling and gotten their magic dust all over. There was string going everwhere. We were each blindfolded and given one end of a string which we were then to follow and roll up to find our stash. One year we actually could see our presents when we got to the tree, but they were scattered throughout the house, each with a number on it. We had to find the presents, in order, and bring them one-by-one back to the living room where we would all watch the recipient open the gift. I don't remember what the reason for this Christmas was, but it seriously took till 1 PM to finish.

Looking back, this must have taken tons of planning and preparation by my parents, but it really made Christmas so much fun. I was wondering what traditions your families might have? (Whether you liked them or not). At Dan's house, it's tradition that Dad passes out each gift. Another thing the Perry's do, is leave the presents Santa brought unwrapped and all set up by the person's stockings.


We started one where we made one of those chains from paper (25 chains) with something to do for each day. For example, we made a gingerbread house, went out for special holiday ice-cream shakes, wrote letters to friends, made cookies for neighbors, etc. Chelsea has really been enjoying it, and I love being able to stretch the holiday out as long as possible. Varden wants to try having a stack of Thank-you cards by the tree on Christmas morning, and as a present is opened, a quick thank you is written before another is opened.

Whatever you do at Christmas, I truly hope you have a blast and love every moment of it! Merry Christmas!