Our Elf on the Shelf, Jingle Bells, made his yearly appearance the day after Thanksgiving. The girls, especially Ella, were very excited to see him.
I “adopted” our elf from Target last year as the Elf on the Shelf frenzy was starting. I guess people have been doing this for decades, but the last couple of years it became a wonder of marketing magic and I was caught up in the gimmick. I mean magic. What’s ONE MORE THING to torment myself with at the holidays. Stockings? Christmas Eve PJs? Gifts? Santa photos? Christmas cookies? Driving to see Christmas lights? Sledding? Ella’s birthday? Finding a creative place to put a stuffed elf every single night…oh, and moving to Texas the day after Christmas. Whatevs.
Santa, just bring me a straitjacket. Thx.
So anyways…Jingle Bells shows up to keep an eye on the girls for Santa. They love coming downstairs every morning to find him. While a lot of people have their elf do mischievous things around the house overnight, our elf is, thankfully, quite the gentleman. I have a hard time understanding the mischievous elf thing, he’s not even marketed as a naughty elf, just one that sits around watching them (slight creep factor). For one: I don’t want to clean up “snow angels” that the elf makes in flour on the counter, toothpaste smeared on the bathroom mirror or any of the other horrible things I’ve seen online. Two: if I don’t want the girls to do these naughty things, why would I let an elf do them? Three: if the elf is supposed to be on the lookout for bad behavior, why would he get to be a complete jerk in the process?? So while it’s funny to see other people’s elves decorating their Christmas tress with their children’s underwear, drawing mustaches on framed family photos with dry erase markers, peeing blue glitter into the toilet, etc., Jingle Bells will not be doing those things.
And while every night I find myself wracking my brain as to what Jingle Bells can do, or where he can go…it’s been worth it to see the giggles and excitement.
If you’ve seen the movie “Elf,” elves like to drink syrup. This was cute but annoying when I attempted to have waffles for breakfast. The whole kitchen ended up smelling like syrup all day.
Challenging some friends to Hi Ho Cherry-O. Jingle Bells made the girls monkey bread one morning for breakfast!
I awoke to find Jingle Bells sleeping in Loran’s spot. Creepy. One morning JB had created beautiful snowflakes for the girls.
Sliding down the railing. Going for a sail.
The Hi Ho Cherry-O friends locked JB in a cabinet. Jingle Bells sporting some of Barbie’s clothes.
We did nearly have one mishap. Jingle Bells had hung our winter hats on the ceiling fan the morning the snow started to fall during our 13 inch snow storm (kind of naughty). Jingle Bells was then peeking out of the ceiling fan light. What I hadn’t counted on was Ella waking up before me and turning lights on all over the house. About an hour later, I’m standing in the living room trying to figure out what smells like burning. Then I make the connection that Jingle Bells has slowly been cooking alongside an incandescent bulb the last hour. Ahhhh! One of the elf on the shelf rules is that you can’t touch the elf or he loses his magic. While I’m not known to be a rule breaker, I made an exception and while Ella watched in horror with wide eyes, I saved Jingle Bells from the light. More like I saved my family and home from Jingle Bells. Lesson learned.
Cuteness abounds though. Ella has thoroughly chewed up her toothbrush. She was to have a dentist appointment this week, which we had to cancel with the moving madness. One evening, after using her decrepit toothbrush, she ran over to Jingle Bells and asked him if he could tell Santa that she needs a new toothbrush. Luckily, the message was received and I have been given word from the big jolly man that there will be two new toothbrushes in the stockings. It’s moments like these that make the stress of creating magic and nearly burning down the house worth it.
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