Day 1: He's HERE!!! Elf arrival day!

GOOD MORNING!!! Happy day-after Thanksgiving!!!! I hope you were able to shake off your stuffing induced stupor and remembered to bring out your elf! If you didn't, don't worry. A lot of people wait until December 1st. Seems just as good of a start date as the day after Thanksgiving. Especially if you're one of those cotton-headed ninny muggins who participate in the Black Friday melee. :)

Ours showed up in our dining room light, just like I thought he would! ;)

The plan was to have him leave a note directing us to put up our Christmas tree. One problem, though, we weren't able to get one yet. We're going to have to wait until next paycheck. Luckily, I happened to find another cute idea whilst perusing Pinterest and had it tucked in the back of my mind "just in cases." (From my absolute FAVORITE Christmas movie, Love Actually.)

We had a North Pole breakfast! Our elf, Clyde, brought us a box of munchkins. The authors at Making Life Whimsical went all out and made sure each item at their North Pole Breakfast was white. I thought about trying to find some white powdered Hostess donettes for our breakfast, but it was all I could do to just get the ingredients for Thanksgiving! (My dear hubby even had to stop by a grocery store on his way home from the night shift on Thanksgiving morning to pick up some celery!) Maybe that will happened on Christmas morning. I even have a bucket like the one they used. As luck would have it, last year, I bought a set of Christmas cookie cutters that came in just such a bucket!

After spending a looooooooong day in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, I almost gave up on the idea entirely. But my husband brought up the idea as we were going to bed. (He thought of it all on his own. I hadn't spoken to him about it at all!) He set his alarm for 6:30, even though we stayed up quite late watching a movie. Unfortunately, he set it for 6:30 PM! On a school day, you can't get those kids to crack open their eyes a second earlier than they absolutely have to. But on weekends or vacations, they some how manage to hop right out of bed at the crack of dawn! But by some chance, maybe a little Elf magic, he got up before they did, got the donut holes, and made it back just as they were stirring.

Clyde left us a little note on the box, "Enjoy a North Pole breakfast! <3 Clyde" Except Clyde always writes his "y" backwards. Thank goodness or the kids might think that it is my handwriting. ;)

He also left a fun surprise at the bottom of the box!

The kids had to wait until mid-afternoon for this part. (Even though it's Clyde's big arrival day, we weren't going to let the kids eat 25 munchkins for breakfast!) The hunt was on to find the surprise!

Our son, 6, found the surprise in the hidden kitchen cupboard. It's hidden, because it is on the backside of the counter and only accessible from the dining room.

After a nice nutritious lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers, they each got two donut halves. One of each flavor. 

The kids think that Clyde is the best elf ever! Tomorrow, Clyde will leave us a note to make an ornament. And we'll be back on schedule! :)

Elf magic

"Those who don't believe in magic, will never find it." -Roald Dahl

Every Friday, my two youngest only have a half day of school. We've established the tradition of getting Icees at Target after I pick them up. The kids call them Frosty, Freezy, Freezes. (Thanks a lot Fanboy and Chum Chum! And Netflix streaming for making it possible for the kids to watch Fanboy and Chum Chum over and over and over...) This last Friday, after getting their Icees, (half red, half blue), we browsed through the Christmas section. We oohed and awed at all the beautiful decorations, opened the little doors of the advent calendars, and listened to the Christmas CD samples. (We bought the Taylor Swift CD and the Glee Christmas 2 CD. The Glee one is already on repeat in my car! Love it!)

We also passed an Elf on the Shelf display. I opened the cover of a girl elf to show the kids what she looked like. There's a little hole about the size of a quarter in the inner plastic cover so you can pull it open to get your elf out. My 6 year old son stuck his finger in and touched her. I said, "Oh, no! If you touch them, they lose their magic!" He looked a little concerned, but not too bad. We closed her box and put it back on the display and moved on. Two days later, on Sunday, the kids were chatting and my son brought up the elf incident. He had been thinking about it and was worried that some family was going to pick out this cute, little girl elf and she would be a dud with no magic!

We'd never had an elf-touching incident at our house, so the kids didn't know what happened then. But I know that many of you have had an elf-touching incident, (or two), in your homes. And I've seen a couple good solutions for this via Pinterest. Kendra at Southern Disposition has a great one! Her story is funny and adorable! Basically, you e-mail Santa and he snail mails you a letter and some Magic Elf Dust to sprinkle on your elf so he/she can get their magic back and return to the North Pole. He/she does have to stay in place until the Magic Elf Dust appears in the mail, but apparently, Santa's mail service is very quick and even works on Sundays! ;) So, I reassured my kids that there are things you can do to bring back an elf's magic. I hope their worries are over. :)

Pam at Over the Big Moon has a whole Elf Magical Recovery Kit including printables! A certificate of health from the North Pole should hopefully calm your child's worries and bring the magic back to your house!

I know accidents can happen, but there are some things you can do so they are less likely to happen.  If you think it might be too much of  a temptation for your child to not touch your elf, then consider having your elf only appear in places out of reach. Some of the fun, cute ideas of where to put your elf make it difficult to go about your day. How are the kids going to brush their teeth if your elf is using the bathroom sink to take a marshmallow bath?! So, I try to avoid those. Especially since our house in Oregon only had one bathroom! Now, you are prepared if one of those accidents happen!

KEEP THE MAGIC ALIVE!!!!

It's here! The 2012 Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Activities

OMG! I figured it out on my own!!! The "2012 Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Activities" quick-glance guide is now finished and available to download!!! Sorry, I'm a bit proud of myself for figuring it out. :) I'll have to assume it works, because we don't have a printer right now. A casualty of the move. Our old printer/copier/scanner thing was bulky and awkward. We didn't want to bother trying to figure out how to pack it. Maybe I'll head down to the library tomorrow and make sure it works. But I'm trusting that Google is probably on top of their stuff.

Don't forget that there are some things you will need to pick up that you might not have at home.

Also, make sure you know where your elf is. After stuffing yourself with stuffing, the last thing that you want to do is go hunting through the garage or attic or wherever you may have stashed your dear little elf. I managed to keep his box in plain sight without ruining the magic. "How?", you may ask. Pure laziness! Sometimes, it works in your favor! Last year, after Christmas, (or I guess it was actually earlier this year!), I didn't actually put him away. I stashed him under the unfolded laundry in a basket in my room. (Oops, DOUBLE laziness there! Ignore that, please.) My, (at the time) 5 year old came in while I was scrapbooking or something and said, "I know that Clyde didn't really go to the North Pole. He's back in that box." And I could honestly say that he wasn't! He didn't believe me. SO, I opened up the empty box! The look on his face was priceless! He was shocked that the elf wasn't there. and a little bit of magic was felt in the air. :) So, the moral of the story is: sometimes laziness totally pays off!

Now, after you're done printing off the guide and hunting for your elf, make sure your turkey is defrosting.

The quick-glance guide

I stayed up ridiculously late last night and finished the quick-glance guide to the elf ideas and coordinating family activities. I got the last two ideas nailed down and it's all ready for you. Except, I'm not sure how to post it yet. (I'm new to this whole blogging thing!) I'll get my hubbie to help with that. I wanted it to all fit on one printable page, so it would be easy for you. Print it out, put in somewhere were the kids won't see it, but that you'll have quick, easy access to it. But not in a "safe place"! We're not the only ones who have moved lately. My cousin and his wife moved just last month. She posted on Facebook last night that she couldn't find either of their camera chargers. It was driving her crazy, because she remembered putting them in a "safe place"! I commented that "safe places" are never safe. :) So, don't put it in a "safe place"!

I've also been messing around with the blog's template, so don't get confused if you come back and it looks different. I'm trying to figure out what I want it to look like.

Tomorrow, when the kids are in school, I'm going to set up a photo shoot for our elf. Then, I can get started on the day by day descriptions of each elf idea and explanation of the coordinating family activity.

For now, here's a picture of one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. :)

Be prepared!

I know you're busy hunting down the perfect turkey and googling a recipe for the flakiest pie crust. But your little elf is supposed to be arriving from the North Pole on Friday. Where will yours show up?

Clyde will show up on our dining room light. That's where he appeared the first year he came to our house, (last year.) At first glance, it sounds kinda boring. "Just on the light above the dining room table? They'll see it right away! Where's the fun in that?" That's what I thought when I put him up there. But they didn't notice him AT ALL! They sat down for breakfast. Ate their food. I read the Elf on the Shelf story. And they went on the hunt for their new elf. They hunted and hunted! I couldn't believe it! He was right above their heads! I had to start the hot/cold game to help them out. When they finally noticed him, they couldn't believe that they hadn't seen him either. So it's a funny memory/tradition for us. I think it also ushered in some of the magic of the elf.

Even though, he'll be hanging out in the dining room light, it will still be different. We moved this summer from Oregon to Arizona. I had lived in Oregon for 31 years. (I still write Oregon in my address sometimes!) "Wait! I thought you said you had snow?! But you're in Arizona! Land of cacti and desert! There's no snow there!" Yes, we're in Arizona. In Flagstaff. Elevation 7000ft. We get snow. We'll probably get more snow that we got in Central Oregon. Everything we be a little different this year, no matter what. So, having our elf start out in the same place as last year will be nice. Something familiar in our new place.

 Besides deciding on a place for your elf to show up on Friday morning, you're going to need a few supplies for the activities. I was going to list them week by week. But when I went to Michael's yesterday, one of the items was already on clearance! So, RUN, don't walk, to Michael's and pick up a Christmas birdhouse, (or three, that's how many I'll need.) they were originally $5. Now, they're $3.  They're for Day 24, Saturday, December 16th. But I know that if you don't scoop something up when you see it, you risk the chance of it disappearing!

I think they're pretty adorable. The kids will have fun painting them, (and I'll do my best to ignore that they're not doing it the way I want them to.) 

In light of the fact that these are already on clearance, I decided it might be a good idea to give you a heads up on the stuff you'll need that isn't already in your house. 

1. Birdhouses.
2. Birdseed.
3. Popsicle sticks. (Okay, you probably have those somewhere. I have no idea where mine are.  Time to hunt through some more boxes!)
4. Embroidery floss. (Also have that. Somewhere...)
5. Wreaths. (I'm buying some cute fake ones. If you're super crafty and love the smell, you could make your own real ones. Plus, they'd probably be free. I was going to get the ones at Michael's, but I saw some even better ones at Home Depot for the same price! Of course, at Michael's, I can use a coupon. Hmmmm... Decisions! Decisions!)
6. Cranberries. (We always do popcorn strings for our tree. Last year, I added a cranberry between every 5th or 6th piece of popcorn. It looked amazing!)
7. Gingerbread houses. (I always think it would be really cool, and quite Martha, to make our own from scratch. But, like I said before, my ideas are often quite bigger than what I can actually pull off. Either because of time restraints or my own laziness! Probably the latter. Oops! Trader Joe's has the cutest chalet style ones! The same price as the basic Wilton ones that are sold everywhere.)
8. Clear spherical ornaments. (Michael's has clear plastic ones that are SUPER cheap! Less than a dollar each. And plastic! I won't have to worry about broken glass. Phew!)

 Popcorn chain with cranberries. (Ignore silly child.)

I think that's it. But I still have two spots in the calendar that aren't done yet! I'll get it finished and then post a quick look guide that you can print out and refer to. I'll also post "Day ~" specific detailed descriptions. But not all at once. I do have other things to do, like feed the kids. They want to be fed EVERY day! Can you believe it?!

The Trader Joe's chalet gingerbread house. So cute!

Football!

I'm trying to get the new post out, but the Ducks are playing Stanford and the game is SOOOOO close that I can't concentrate on anything!!! I'm dying!!!! Kansas State lost their game and if we win, we'll be #1 in the BCS. If we lose, I don't know what will happen!!! Dying, I tell you, dying!!!

A plan for all schedules and budgets.

There are dozens and dozens of sites with great Elf on the Shelf ideas. I'm taking it a step further and combining the elf's activities with activities for you and your family to do together during the holidays. Yes, it'll take a bit more work than just moving your elf each night. But with a little extra planning, (and I've done most of it for you!), you can totally do it! If it seems like too much work, then just pick a few activities. One a week or only on weekends. Or you can just use the ideas for new places to move your elf. No judging! Who knows, I often hatch plans bigger than I can accomplish! But it's worth a try! :) The kids will never know what you decided not to do. Each day is a fun surprise no matter what! 

Our elf is good. Sometimes a bit mischievous, but never BAD. There will be no Dexter-like kill room for Clyde. And he doesn't drink vodka, just syrup! :) I find those pictures hilarious! But only for grown-ups after the kiddos are in bed. He will not be making a copy of his little, red felt butt, either.

If you follow the story, and your elf arrives the morning after Thanksgiving and goes home on Christmas Eve, that means you've got 32 days of places to move/ hide your elf. That's a LOT of places to move your elf and LOTS of activities. Seriously! Who has time for that?!! That's why I'm planning ahead. The list isn't quite finished yet. It'll be here in a few days.

I have tried to make it a good mix of cheap, free, and only slightly expensive activities. I don't know about you, but Santa still hasn't delivered the money tree I keep asking for! Also, many of the days are "school days" when we don't have time to do a big project. My kids don't get off for Winter Break, this year, until Friday the 21st. I'm not going to try and mix homework with baking cookies for the neighbors. That's a good weekend activity. (And if you don't bake, buy cookies for the neighbors! You can still make it an activity by letting the kids pick the cookies out at the store and "wrapping" them for the neighbors.)

Obviously, my plans fit OUR house. Everyone's home is different and each has their own advantages and disadvantages for placing their elf. I live in a ranch style home. Our elf doesn't have the handrail of a staircase to slide down. But he can sit on a little popsicle sled the kids made. We live where it snows, you might live near sand. We can go make a snowman. You could go make a sand-snowman. I've seen some cute ones on Pinterest!

I got all my supplies at either Michael's, Target, WalMart, or the Dollar Tree.  And even some of the Michael's stuff can be swapped out for Dollar Tree stuff. I also take advantage of all the Sunday paper coupons. A $18 craft from Michael's can be turned into a $10.80 craft with a coupon. Or with a Dollar Tree swap, can be turned into a $3 craft. 

All schedules. All budgets. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!