This year we decided Alyssa would be old enough to start appreciating the idea that Santa watches you to see if you are being a good or naughty little girl. With the advice of some friends, we purchased "The Elf on the Shelf." It is a hard back book that comes with an elf doll. In short, the story is about an elf, whom the child names, that comes to your house on Thanksgiving and stays until Christmas Eve. Every night the elf flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa if you've been good or bad, then comes back to the house the next morning and sits in a different spot in the house. On Christmas Eve, the elf flies back to the North Pole where he then stays until next year.
It's a great, fun tradition to start for anyone with young children. It's definitely something that I will use for many years to come. We had a blast moving Pincher every night to a new location around the house, after the kids were sleeping, of course. Every morning, Alyssa came down and searched all around to find out where Pincher would be sitting next. It did help a little bit when daddy said "you better be good, Pincher's watching you!" She would look over at the little elf, and the naughty behavior would stop!
We will definitely miss having Pincher around now that Christmas is over.
As Alyssa says, "Mama, I really miss Pincher. I cannot wait until next Christmas when we get to see him again."
That is a good idea. We had a little trouble with Jade this year. We have so much family here that she never "wants" for anything...she gets presents all the time. So, when Christmas rolled around this year, she didn't seem very excited about getting presents or being "good" since Santa was coming. It was very disappointing for me. Hopefully we can do something better next year and the Elf maybe just the thing.
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