It Now Feels Like Christmas!

I love the Christmas Season! For me I like the days before Christmas better than Christmas. I love all the excitement and traditions we have. One of them being "Merry Christmas!" We yell Merry Christmas when we see a house decorated. The only rule being you have to wait till you SEE the lights before you yell it. We end up memorizing the houses in our neighborhood and some people try to yell Merry Christmas before the houses are in view so we try to level the playing field:)

I took this with my cell phone so it's not that great but this is 3 houses together that put up an awesome display of lights in the Olde Mills neighborhood off of 707. They have done it for years. Every time we come home that way we take a detour to see all the lights. We let Matthew unbuckle and drive REALLY SUPER SLOW so we can take it all in.

Another tradition I love is Elvin the Elf! This is a mischievous elf that visits and reports to Santa daily. He leaves messes or does silly things for the kids to find in the morning. Last year Aspen helped out with Elvin. She knows who he really is but still likes to see what he does. Last year on his last morning (Christmas Eve) he left Dunkin Donuts. Matthew was sad to see him go! Tonight is his first night here this Christmas season!

I forgot to disguise my handwriting! I hope Matthew doesn't notice!! Aspen watched me do it so I guess she knows! lol I get so excited when I think of stuff but forget the mess I have to clean up! I used spray snow on the mirror then wrote the message. I now remember I don't like that stuff! Oh well, I can't wait to see the excitement on Matthew's face when he sees it!
I love receiving comments! Leave a comment telling me about some of your favorite Christmas traditions!

He's Back!

     I first learned about The Elf on the Shelf last Christmas. A friend of mine posted everyday on Facebook what the elf did the night before. Then another friend posted something about the elf. Next thing I knew at least 10 friends posted the mischief their elf did the night before. So I looked into this Elf on the Shelf. Basically it is a book that comes with an elf. The story is the elf comes to visit during the holiday season and reports back to Santa how the children are behaving. He also moves around. So the next day the kids search all over for the elf. I really thought it was a cute idea!
     I went to the book store to get one AND this elf was UGLY! He reminded me of a toy I had when I was little. I played with it all the time because I was scared of it! I thought if I didn't play with it it would get mad at me. So I played with it and made pretend I loved it, when really I hated that stuffed lion with bright pink hair( my brother had one with bright blue hair).
     So I got creative. In our house you can't see the elf. At night he comes in and makes mischief. So the kids wake up and look for the mess our elf made. Last year he did stuff like:
-spread toilet paper all over the house
-pee green pee in the toilet and not flush
-move the car into the middle of the front yard
- put the kids underwear in the Christmas tree (that didn't go over so well)
- rip up TONS of pieces of white paper to resemble snow
- made a "snow" angel out of flour on the counter
-put all of our stools and chairs into the bathtub
     And many more things I can't think of! He is very creative with his misbehavior. Shane and I had so much fun with it! This year Aspen acts like she could care less but I know if we didn't she would say something. Matthew is still at the age where he is enjoying it. It's just a silly new tradition we started and are having a blast with! Most definitely one of the highlights of being a parent!!
     Last night the elf came for the first time this year. He left a note on the kids bathroom mirror in toothpaste. It said," I'm back! Did you miss me!" My little first grader noticed the elf used an exclamation mark when he should have used a question mark. That alone was worth the pain in the rear of cleaning the toothpaste off the mirror! Tonight he is going to make a mess with the Halloween candy looking for his favorite kind. Feel free to leave ideas for our little trouble maker!
Here is a link if you want to check out the little guys website: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home