The Elf who Never Stays on the Shelf

It's that time of year again!  Christmas songs, wish lists, SNOW! (sorry, but this girl loves the snow!)  And, of course, Elf on the Shelf.  Mr. (or Ms.) Elf on a Shelf has been something of a phenomenon these past few years.  Our elf first came to us last year, and my then 3 year old searched for him in his crazy hiding places every morning.  It became such a fun part of the morning and even I was sad when our littlest family member flew home on Christmas Eve.

If you haven't heard of these guys, google Elf on the Shelf and you'll be busy for hours.  In a nutshell (or a snowball, maybe?), the idea is that your elf becomes part of your household sometime around the beginning of December.  Each night, he flies home to the North Pole to report on the kids' behavior.  Each morning, he arrives back at your house and hides until the kiddos find him.  Sometimes he's in plain sight, sometimes he's been a lot mischievous, and sometimes he's helpful.  Different families have different types of elves, too.  Since my sons are still quite young, and I happen to know that they're always on their best behavior (ha ha), our elf doesn't report on the kids, but he does fly home each night to check on Santa's reindeer because that's his special job.

Our elf is named Ferdinand.  When you're lucky enough to get an elf, you get to give him a name.  When I was pregnant with my youngest, my son wanted to name the baby Ferdinand.  We thought it was better suited to our elf.

Our elf gets up to some pretty zany adventures.  Here's a few; feel free to use them as inspiration, for a laugh, or an eyeroll at the sheer silliness.

1. Ferdinand brought our boys a brand new coloring book!  Well, it was brand new until his inner artist took over.

2.  Ferdinand and Rudolph apparently miss the sleigh, so they made their own out of my son's snowboot.

3. Ferdinand and Snoopy raided the cabinets and created their own fort.  I'm pretty sure they got the idea from the blanket fort my boys built earlier in the day.

4.  An elf bath!  Didn't you know they bathe in marshmallows?

5. A Ferdinand vs. Optimus Prime snowball fight...you'd think the elf might be outclassed, but he held his own!

6.  I hope he's got his pilot's license!  Ferdinand took the plane for a spin and reminded us how rapidly Christmas was approaching!