Elf on the Shelf & Christmas Craft

On the 8th Day of Christmas... :)

This one wasn't really a day, it was a tradition we did the whole holiday season. We introduced "the elf on the shelf" into our family this year. I wasn't quite sure aiden was old enough to comprehend the elf or to really enjoy it but as the month wore on he got more and more excited about looking for the elf every morning.

Here's the gist of the elf on the shelf, the elf arrives in a box from the north pole alone with a book about the legend of the elf. He is a helper of Santa's and comes to live with a family throughout the month of December. He sits on a "shelf" every day, perfectly still, watching the children in the house to see if they are being good or bad. Then every night while the children are asleep he flies home to the north pole to report to Santa whether his family is being naughty or nice. The elf is back way before anyone in the family wakes up the next morning and he is sitting in a new place. Half the fun for the kids is getting up and finding where the elf is sitting, hanging, laying, perching, etc.

Our elf was named "Joseph" by aiden and aiden really did enjoy looking for Joseph every morning.

Although I'm not real sure that Joseph was all that much of an incentive to aiden to be a good boy. Aiden told me on one of the first nights "Joseph will tell the baby Jesus that I'm a good boy and I get a boat for Christmas" I reminded him that the elf would tell SANTA if he's a good boy or not and aiden replied "No he'll tell the Baby Jesus. Jesus loves me all the time"--That's my little negotiator. Always has a good argument.

I think the elf tradition will become a little bit more fun each year, we didn't really focus on it too much this year other than noticing that he had moved location. We were trying to focus more on the "baby jesus" and the "giving to others" lessons of Christmas.

***I'm tacking this one on here as well cause I took hardly any pictures of our crafty day at home!***

On the 9th Day of Christmas... :)

We made special Christmas Crafts/ Ornaments for our family.

Aiden = WAYYYYY into using glue

The finished product was an ornament that can be hung on the tree with a picture of our family in it. We delivered the ornaments to some of our family when we took them their cookies (next post) but for out of town family the ornaments will have to be mailed.

Side note: Yes this was all the same day, Aiden can't stand for his shirt to have anything on it and he got glue on the first one he was wearing.