Toby's, The Elf On The Shelf, First Week...

This is the second year that we have participated with the Elf on the Shelf.  Last year I introduced the kiddos to the idea with the book, movie and a little note written by Santa about good-vs-bad choices and how he understands grace.

 

 

I just wanted to write up a short post showing what our Elf has been up to.

 

Day 1: Toby came in by parachute. I know that a lot of families make a big fuss the morning the elf shows up. Some even have elaborate breakfast's and gifts, yeah...we don't do that! It's not that I have anything against it, I just forgot that our elf was supposed to be there in the morning. I remembered at about 2 am when I was on my way home from work, so nothing elaborate was going to happen.

 

 

Day 2: With Baby Boogie more alert about Christmas and everything going on around her she has become very interested in Toby.  Toby must now hide out of the reach of a very tall almost three year old's hands! So on the second day he decided to sing Karaoke on the fridge using Babydoll's princess music player.

 

Day 3: Toby was feeling very playful (mommy was feeling very tired) so he decided to swing from the ceiling using Christmas ribbon.

 

Day 4: Baby Boogie is deathly afraid of Bubby's dinosaur, she won't go anywhere near the toy.  It has caused a lot of mean spirited-ness from her daddy and I and a lot of laughs.  Toby decided to wrangle up the dino and go for a ride.  Even though he was within reach, Baby Boogie never tried to touch him.

 

Day 5: Toby wanted to be a hero! Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Toby! Mommy had a lot of sleep that day!

 

Day 6: I finally got around to putting up the tree, but after hours of searching for the stupid legs to the tree there was no way that I was going to decorate it.  I had to tear my clean house apart, find the legs, then clean my house again.  Toby was nice enough to decorate the tree for us...using socks!

 

Day 7: Toby decided he just wanted to hang out, it's amazing how easy going that elf is when I have had very little sleep the night before, or had a very very long night at work! Nice Job Elf!



ANTICS OF OUR ELF! WEEK:1

Our Elf On The Shelf or should I say elves (Toby/Twinkles) have been having some fun! Instead of posting everyday, I decided a weekly update would be more fun. I am new at this so most of my ideas have been inspired by others but hey my kiddos don't know that!

Day 1:

Toby brought Christmas ornaments and appeared on our tree!

Day 2:

Toby got a little tired on the flight so he had a little help from Bubby's helicopter!

Day 3:

Toby likes extreme sports, no repelling in the house!

Day 4:

The kiddos were behaving really well so Toby brought some fun Christmas coloring sheets and new markers!

Day 5:

Twinkles decided she wanted a turn (for the story of our cross dressing elf click HERE)

The other toys threw a parade for Twinkles!

Day 6:

A lesson in snow angels and some powdered doughnuts for breakfast!

So that was week one for us.  Like I said you have more than likely seen these ideas already but everyday the kids were super excited to see what our elves had been up to! The little letters from Santa have really helped the kids reflect on bad choices they may have made, and receive praise for the good and great choices they make each day!

TOBY/ TWINKLES HAS ARRIVED!!! ELF ON A SHELF DAY 1

I know that every family who enjoys the Elf On A Shelf tradition does it differently, some elves create mischief, some just move from place to place, and some elves are helpers in reinforcing the true meaning of Christmas.  This year my family decided to adopt our very own Elf.  We went to Target and chose the Elf that would spend our Christmas seasons with us.  I decided I wanted to do a 30 day elf trial run this year, seeing as the day after Thanksgiving has always been the day the Christmas decorations start coming out of the boxes.
I wanted our Elf to do pretty much all of these things, plus a few!

Today when we got home from Target, we read the book that came with our adopted elf, but surprise there was a note from Santa tucked into the book cover! The letter was a way of tying Elf On A Shelf, Santa and the true meaning of Christmas all in one fun family tradition.

The idea of a letter from Santa was borrowed from HERE it is a wonderful letter, explaining that Christmas isn't just about gifts, but many more things!  I tweaked the letter a little for our own family and talked about grace and forgiveness a little more but you can get a basic idea from the original letter.

After we read the letter we continued on to read the actual book that comes with our elf and then watched a DVD that we found about Elf On A Shelf.  The DVD was only about thirty minutes long but the children seemed to enjoy it, well we all did!  I like that the DVD allowed the children to visualize everything, plus it was nice all of us cuddled up enjoying some family movie time.  Even baby Boogie sat through the whole movie!

The kids went to bed tonight and magically Toby (that is what we named him) came to life! Toby made personalized Christmas ornaments out of Scrabble tiles and hung them (the first ornaments to be displayed this year) on the tree.

 

Day 1: Toby our elf 

Toby also brings a letter from Santa back every morning!  It is written on this free printable Santa letterhead that I found HERE ! The letters from Santa will congratulate the children on the good choices they are making and discuss or remind them about bad choices that could have been made better.  Santa will not nit pick about every little thing but he will remind them that he learned to be forgiving and full of grace from Jesus and God!

Before the kiddos went to bed, Babydoll was displeased that we only had a boy elf on the shelf and not a girl one too! She had seen the girl elves on the DVD so I quickly told her about Toby's twin sister who we went ahead and named Twinkles!  Toby and Twinkles will take turns showing up at our house so the other one can help Santa at the North Pole!  I am too cheap to buy two dolls,(besides the only difference in the boy and girl is that the girl has thicker painted lashes)  and honestly I know that they sell the little skirts for the girl dolls but meh why buy one when I can make one?!?!  So using felt, some ribbon (I couldn't find my snaps) and my hot glue gun, Toby can magically turn into Twinkles!!

I think the skirt looks almost exactly like the one they sell!

So there you go our Elf On The Shelf has begun, I think I might also try to tie in some Elf / Santa recommended Random Acts of Kindness in the letters we get back every morning!  I also alreay love the fact that my oh so original kids named our elves the same names as out dogs!

Elves: Toby and Twinkles

Dogs: Toby and Twinkie