December Happenings: Elf on the Shelf

We don't have the traditional Elf on a Shelf Elf, because personally I think he is kind of creepy looking.  However, I did find this cute little guy in a catalog and thought he would work much better.  Our elf doesn't come every night either, and he can be touched.  I also love that he holds an envelope so the kids get a message from him or Santa every time he comes!  Coop named him Buddy after the movie "Elf," one of our favorites around here.  Buddy comes with Christmas activities for Family Home Evening or small cheap gifts for the kids to enjoy.  The first night Buddy came, he got into our Rice Crispy Train supplies and told the kids he was ready to get started.  Cooper thought it was awesome that he made a mess in the kitchen but firmly told Buddy we had to wait until dad got home for FHE.

A couple of nights later Buddy brought the kids some fun window clings to play with.  They had fun decorating houses and trees and adding Santa, reindeer, and snowmen to the different scenes.

 My kids struggle to wear pants and socks, heck, they'd go around naked most of the time if I let them.  So I thought maybe with the cold weather Buddy could bring some fun Christmas socks.  He was found dressed up in them from head to toe.  I love when the kids would find him, Bailey would scream, "I found BUDDY!" Wouldn't you know it, the kids wore those socks for several days straight! :)

On December 22, Buddy showed up near the computer saying he had a message from Santa.  Each of the kids watched a personal video from Santa from the Portable North Pole.  I recorded it, but I'm not good at adding video to the blog.  It was so much fun to see the looks on their faces when Santa called them by name and mentioned some Christmas gifts that were on their lists.  On the 23rd, Buddy showed up with reindeer food especially made for them to sprinkle outside on Christmas Eve.

Last but not least, Buddy showed up on Christmas Eve with a present for each kid to open.  In my family growing up it was a tradition to get a Christmas ornament every year to hang on the tree so I decided to let Buddy bring them this year.  Coop was excited to get an Angry Bird ornament and B was more than pleased to get a Mickey Mouse ornament.  Buddy told them in his last note that he was going back to the North Pole until next year and I know the kids were sad to see him go.