Elf on the Shelf

We decided to get a little Elf on the Shelf for Keira this year. She simply seems to be at that point in the midst of her wonder years, where everything is intriguing & somewhat magical, & we thought she would really enjoy it.

You're supposed to give the elf a name & go online to register her & finalize the adoption. Really? Yes, really. The elf also comes with a story book that tells the story of Santa & his naughty & nice lists. His scout elves are to watch for the naughty or nice behavior of the children & report back to Santa each night. Then it's a game to find the new position the elf took upon her arrival in the morning. The only rule, no touching the elf, or it's magic will disappear, & they will not be able to report good deeds to Santa on your behalf. Personally, the only parts I like for Keira are the name & the game. No adoption, no book, no spying, no guilt trips or punitive measures, no listing of gifts for Santa to bring, & last but certainly not least...no rules. That's our version of Elf on the Shelf anyway.

We named her Penelope.

The first couple days we just had her hanging around the Christmas tree & helped Keira find her. I simply told Keira that Penelope is a little elf from the North Pole, who has come to spend the holiday with us; that she likes to play in the house at night & we look for her in the morning to see what she's been up to; that it's a game we play. I let Keira touch her & play with her in between. Even moving Penelope around in the tree or putting her up in our wreath bewildered Keira a bit, so we decided to place her more out in the open.

By this day, Keira was positively bright-eyed & giddy! She is so inquisitive. She wants to know how Penelope got there! I tell her it's magic. She doesn't buy it.

So I tell her that actually I moved Penelope there. She exclaims, "Nu-uh! Daddy moved her there!"

Then she will claim responsibility herself, "It was me! I put her there!" This particular day, Keira was so excited that Penelope likes honey as much as she does! She insisted on honey toast for breakfast, only after getting a sip of that honey for herself, of course. {p.s. it's hard getting honey through a skinny straw! Penelope definitely has magical powers!}

Here's Penelope, climbing the garlands. Keira says, "But mama, how did she get up there? She doesn't have any fingers, so she can't just grab things!" I remind her, there's magic in the air.

Here's Penelope, skiing the slopes with Frosty. Keira pushed the button to watch Penelope ride Frosty for the Jingle Bells tune, but Frosty got a little too crazy on the chorus & threw Penelope, who ended up face down in a snack bowl of honey nut cheerios {sans milk, thank goodness!}. Keira was in absolute hysterics!

Yes, this is the name of the game, folks.