Our 1st Christmas Gift of the Season

I admit it. I hit the malls on black Friday (and really enjoyed myself)! Beth & Bill happened to be doing their radio broadcast from there. I had been watching for a few minutes when I noticed on the producer's desk that she had The Elf on the Shelf box. I had heard about this from my cousin and had been wanting to get one for my kids this year, but hadn't seen one anywhere. On a commercial, I leaned over and asked her if she knew where I could buy one.

She said, "Here! You can have it. Merry Christmas!"

I was so excited! I never get anything for free! Made my trip to the mall all the more worth it.

So Friday night we decorated the tree. . .

And Saturday morning when the kids woke up, they noticed this waiting for them underneath the tree:

Chloe saw it first and ran and got the other kids. They couldn't figure out what it was or how it had gotten there. We read the book together and found out that this special elf had been sent specifically to our family. His job is to watch and listen all day long and see how well the kids behave (or misbehave). Every night when they've gone to sleep, the elf flys to the North Pole and reports to Santa on how they did that day. The next morning he reappears in a different place. The second the kids wake up now, they run to see who can be the first one to find him. But the children can't touch him or he loses his magic! They also get to name the elf and then they go online to tell Santa what they named him. Our kids threw out the names Buddy and Pinnochio, but ultimately went with the name "Magic."

So several times each day you'll hear me saying "Do you want Magic to hear that? Should I tell Magic what you just did?" It truly is magical because it works so darn well!

This is going to be such a fun tradition to carry on every year. And it's even more special that it was given to me as the first gift of the season!