No, the actual "Elf on the Shelf" isn't a failure. I am. Sheesh. After reading Lesley's post about "Elf on the Shelf" and talking to my neighbor, I decided it would be a fun tradition to start. If you are new to the "Elf on the Shelf" stuff, it's basically a kit with a book and an elf that you buy and the Elf reports to Santa every night while the kids are sleeping. They can talk to the elf and tell him (or her) what gifts they want him to tell Santa to bring. He also watches them during the day to report on whether they were good or bad. So, your job as the adult is to (1) read the book so they understand they have to be good, and (2) move the elf to a different spot every night after the kids go to bed so they can find him in the morning.
Easy, right? Well, for starters, I didn't make it to the store to pick it up to start on December 1st like you are supposed to. But, my kids are only 4, 2 and 4 months, so they really have no idea what December 1 even means. So I introduced it to them on December 5. Yeah, well on the FIRST NIGHT of trying this, I forgot to move the elf. In my defense, I fell asleep in the chair nursing Molly earlier than I usually go to sleep and then the kids got up in the morning before I did. And the first thing they noticed? "The Elf is in the same spot, Mommy!".
So, a couple minutes later, I asked them to look out the front door and see if it was snowing, raining or really hot outside (or some nonsense along those lines) and quickly moved the Elf to a new spot. You see, the other rule is that you can't touch the elf or he might not come back to your house again. So, they couldn't see me touch it. Somehow he magically moved from the fireplace mantle to our bathroom light fixture. They loved it and at one point during the day Tyler hit his brother and I told him to go in and tell the elf what he had done. He went in and mumbled something about a toy he wanted for Christmas, but Ryan went in behind him and said, "Elf, bro-bro hit me" and then turned around and looked at Tyler and did an evil "ha, ha, ha" laugh. :)
Anyway, here is a picture of our elf, "Thomas the Elf" in his spot for tomorrow. You get to name your own elf, so Tyler picked Elf and Ryan picked Thomas (after his favorite train) and we combined it to make "Thomas the Elf". Here's to mommy remembering to move it from now on...
