Christmas is over and we’re all still mourning it a little bit, I guess. We spend so much time preparing our hearts and our homes and then it’s over in a flash! We do everything we can to infuse magic into the days leading up to Christmas and give our girls as many happy memories as we can possible fit in. I know every mother has their own opinion about Santa’s little helpers, but I just can’t be apologetic about our elf fever over here. My girls look forward to Scout’s arrival every year and to be honest, so do I! There are mornings where I wonder if he’s made the move or if the girls will be disappointed, but it’s worth the extra few minutes to see the smiles on their faces when he is found.
In years past, Scout has always showed up on the first of December. Maybe he was worried about the potential for travel for this mama during the holidays or he just felt like surprising them a little early, but either way, the girls were thrilled to find a big box with their names on it when we got back from our hike the weekend after Thanksgiving.
The big guy outdid himself and sent the girls {and Hudson} matching Christmas pajamas and a few fun toys to share on our trip. He gave us instructions to put him inside the camper and then no touching after that! The next day, he was hanging out in the bathroom with some washi tape and a short note. The kids loved the note so much, that we pulled out a fresh notebook when we got home and they began corresponding with him almost every day. How cool to have a pen pal from the North Pole?!
Each day he’s left a little note with a clue to his location or a question for the girls to answer. Sophie isn’t really into the notes, but Ella has lived for reading them each morning when she wakes up and loves writing him back. On days she doesn’t write back, neither does he — that has encouraged her to leave a note as often as possible. She usually asks him funny questions, too, which prompt interesting responses and locations the next morning. Some days his location isn’t as creative, but he seems to follow along with her questions, which makes it even more fun.
One day he asked them their favorite Christmas memory and told them the answer was a clue to his location. Fortunately enough, they agreed that Disney was the best Christmas surprise of all time and tracked him down in Cinderella’s castle.
Ella told him she wanted the Magic Treehouse books for Christmas and then asked him what his favorite book was. Of course he chose his autobiography.
The morning after the SEC Championship win, he was snuggled up with some Alabama cheerleaders just outside of our bedroom. The girls thought this was hilarious, but I think Josh was even more impressed. We joked that between two blonde twins was the place to be!
One day Scout commented on our Christmas decorations and how pretty the tree was, which prompted Ella to ask him about his favorite Christmas ornament. The felt candy cane horse he chose is one of my favorite childhood ornaments that my parents passed down to me.
Some days, the letters were less about where he would be hiding. We found him in all sorts of places — hiding in the Rosemary tree, dressed like a shepherd in the nativity and trapped behind the glass in our bookcases.
I was thrilled to find he stamped all of our Christmas cards on Friday night and Ella remarked about how helpful he had been! On Saturday, she asked him what his favorite snack was, so of course he stayed up late to raid the pantry.
Not only did he help with the Christmas cards, but he pitched in overnight on our front door project {note the pencil behind his ear} and even got a jump start on wrapping Christmas gifts. Sophie wasn’t thrilled with his paper selection for her gift, but I’m guessing she’ll recover once she gets to open it.
Last week, we found him hiding in our Disney themed kitchen tree and he was even attempting to wear my Minnie Mouse ears. This tree is one of the girls’ favorite decorations, so they were pleased as punch to find him there. Later that week, Ella asked him all about life at the North Pole and he confessed to missing his home even though he’s having fun with us. The next day, we found him making snow angels in the kitchen with makeshift snow!
After a little Sophie drama over whether a coloring book was “boy” or not, we found Scout coloring in it the very next day! That day didn’t end well. There was yelling and bickering and when we woke up the next morning Scout was nowhere to be found. He left a note reminding them to mind their mom and dad and the next day was much better!
Lucky for the girls, he was back the following day, hiding among our *finally* wrapped presents under the tree. He got *nudged* a few times here, but he seemed to forgive us. The next day he was in an empty TP roll and there were streamers throughout the bathroom. The girls thought this was pretty funny – it might have been their favorite day so far.
With only a few days left, he hung out on the donkey’s back in our favorite felt nativity scene. If you didn’t look closely, you might have missed him!
I know the day will come when my girls are no longer enamored by the elf’s antics and we won’t spend so much time focused on the magic of the season, but for now it’s a pretty big part of our holiday celebration. There are so many ways to use the elf to add to the traditions and beliefs you already have! We’ve done a Christmas book a day with him and last year he even brought an Advent card each day and we read the Bible verses on them together. I hope your Christmas was filled with beautiful memories, spiritual moments AND plenty of magic. Until next year, Scout!
