Meet Henry

 

This is Henry. He’s our Christmas elf.

A friend of mine at work has been doing this with her kids for years (they’ve outgrown it now but she still does it and makes them play along!) And if it hadn’t been for her I don’t think I would have ever tried it – but her stories were so hilarious I just had to!

I ordered “Elf on the Shelf” (which seems to be all the rage this year and I just hope they don’t spoil it with all the advertising they’re doing for the kids to see!). The night he arrived we waited for Maisie to go to bed and then we sat Fiona down and told her we needed to have a “Very Important” family meeting.

I said, “honey, you know that box that I got in the mail today?” she nods “well, I didn’t realize it at first…..but it came from the North Pole” she sits stiller then I’ve ever seen her sit “we have been chosen for something very special, something very important. We have been chosen to have an elf come live with us till Christmas.”

Her jaw dropped open. Not figuratively – literally. She couldn’t speak. She just sat there with her mouth wide open as still as she could.

“this book was sent to us with instructions on what to do and what not to do. we have to read it and then I think our elf will start coming maybe even tomorrow!”

so we read the story book that comes with the elf. It covers things about how we can’t touch the elf or he’ll lose his magic and become a doll (they sell skirts to ….FOR $8.00!! to make your elf a girl…..mwah.) How he can’t talk to us…Santa’s Laws of course – and THE most important nugget of all…..each night he will fly back to the North Pole and report to santa on our behavior!

Fiona had lot’s of questions during the reading….how does he go to the bathroom….how does he fly he doesn’t have wings….etc. My two favorite things she said were – when we read the “no touching” rule she just shook her head and said, “man, we are going to have to keep Maisie away from him. How are we going to do that?!!!” and when we read the part about him reporting on our behavior we had to laugh because instead of thinking of herself she got a HUGE grin on her face and said (grinning the whole time) “He is going to see when Maisie touches all my stuff and she is going to end up on the naughty list!” I thought that was hilarious that even at this age that was the first place her mind went =)

So Henry has been a pure joy to have in the house. Turns out he doesn’t shed or poop or pee in the corners (that we’ve seen) Each morning he is in a new place – out of Maisie’s reach. And when we have those rocky moments around the house we just look up to the sky and say, “Henry…..Oh Henry….are you seeing this? Better stop or Henry is going to report you to Santa tonight!”

If you don’t already you should. Worth EVERY penny!