Monday, November 23, 2009

What the Elf

In case we aren't Facebook friends {and why aren't we? You can be a blog fan AND we can be friends, if you'd like}, you might not have known that Jason and I attended the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta this weekend. It was wonderful and is deserving of an entire post to come.

My in-laws were kind enough to keep our kiddos and we loved the conference {much more than having the sex talk with the youth we teach at church}. I guess it all comes with the same package, though.

Last night when we were putting the kids to bed, Ollie was telling me all about Santa Claus. {He got to watch some Santa movies at Nana and Grandpa's this weekend.} I remembered that I had that Christmas Elf thing somewhere that scares the be-Jesus out of your kids and thought I should bring it up in conversation.

You know what I'm talking about right? This Elf thing. We tried it last year, but Ollie kept grabbing it and throwing it around and I didn't think Santa would appreciate that, so he magically disappeared.

Anywho, I think our kids might "get it" this year and he might appear for a while.
Here's how the intro conversation went:

Ollie: Mommy, Santa watches you when you are sleeping to see if you are good.

Me: Yes, he even sends an Elf to live here to make sure you are being a good boy and each night the elf reports back to the North Pole.

O: F is a letter, mommy.

Me: No, not an "F"- an elf.

O: A, B, C, D, E, ELLLFFF, G

Me: No, buddy. An Elf. Like... an ELF... that lives with Santa.

O: "Elf" is for Firetruck and Fox.

Me: {laughing hysterically at our Southern accent miscommunication- reminds me of "Chester drawers"} An elf is like a little man who helps Santa make toys at the North Pole. But this one comes to live with us and report back to Santa Claus every night. [Repeating. I realize.]

O: How does he do that when he's in the alphabet?

Oh, my. It was a comedy of errors. I'm not sure if I should bring out that dang elf or not.
Have you tried him at your house?
Or do you think it would be fun?


I've heard of many people with success stories, but I'd love to hear your take.
And if he doesn't work again this year, I think I'll just stick him in the Chester Drawers for good.

31 comments:

Muthering Heights said...

That is TOO much!!! I don't think I could have gotten through that one with a straight face!

Nashville TV Show said...

I'm not a fan ... but I did just become one!!

Becca @ My Crazy Good Life said...

Too stinkin' cute!

We could never do that here. My Mother used to tell; my boys that Santa was watching them through the windows, and they cried for days. Can you imagine an elf?

Kelly Miller said...

That may be the cutest thing I've heard in a while. We tried the elf last year and both my kids were creeped out. :)

Melanie B said...

hey there hillary....thought i would post here for all of your fans that aren't on fb....we have an elf named Sebastian. He has been with us 2 years and he is great.....I was also afraid of her touching him and tossing him, but told the crunch that if you touched sebastian the magic went away and he couldn't fly back to the north pole at night. Then to keep the temptation away, he always stayed up somewhere high. once he was in the tree, on top of her "chester drawers" and once even sitting on the ceiling fan. Well, actually sitting on the fan alot, he seems to like it there. He can see everything that happens. And he always lands somewhere new when he flies back to our house. Sebastian normally shows up sometime around Thanksgiving, we never know when, and he catches a ride back with Santa on Christas Eve. We love having Sebastian as part of our family. Hopefully, your elf will be able to work for you this year!!

Carrie said...

HAHAHA!! That conversation is hysterical! I can almost hear him saying those things.

I'm thinking about doing the elf, too, but I'll probably wait until next year when the little one is a little older.

Unknown said...

I had elves all over our tree growing up, but my mother wouldn't let them hang out just anywhere in the house, not like at Grandmama's house. There, my dad told me, they kept an eye on us kids, one in every room (except the bathroom, of course), and they all reported back to the head elf named Bellsnickle, who answered only to Santa Claus. And then, when Santa came by Christmas Eve, he'd leave gifts for the good kids, and all the elves would hope back in the sleigh until next year. And they did, too! Just like when my dad was a kid.

The elves come & hang out in my house (and my mom now gives them more free-range at her house), and my dad tells KP all about them. I think this year I'll talk it up more, too, and see what he thinks. His older cousin is so enamored with the elves, that he has an elf with him year-round, Bellsnickle, to be precise. But, "D" is one of God's special treasures, and we all do what we can to look after the big guy.

Just hang them high, maybe in sneaky places. 1) He can't get them; or 2) It turns into an I-spy game. (And maybe call him Bellsnickle.)

Hollie and Janie said...

Love it! that's so funny!! i like it when kids keep trying to show you the error of your ways! (ie. when i let Mattie Claire use a butter knife and she told me that "um..aunt hollie, children really shouldn't use knives...they're very dangerous!"

MenefeeMenagerie said...

I LOVE O's confusion! I grew up with an elf watching over me at Christmas time. I think it was the same one that watched over my mom as a little girl too. Ours always hung on a plant hook in the corner of the living room (I suspect that he was not on a shelf to keep little hands from taking him down and blindfolding him...haha). I never remember being afraid of him...he was just part of our Christmas tradition. As a matter of fact, Dennis and I now have our own elf hanging in the corner of our living room watching us (and now Lach). We even have one on the tree for good measure - you know, to make sure that all angles are covered :). I hope they don't end up giving Lachlan the willies!

MenefeeMenagerie said...

Oh...and I'm TOTALLY going to have to name our elves now! I love the ones that people mentioned on here!

Lauren said...

That is too funny! My daughter is Henry's age, so I'm not quite sure she would get it yet. She has no idea who Santa is yet (she's the only child and the oldest grandchild, so no older ones to tell her) and we try to keep it that way! I'll definitely be trying it next year.

Jennifer S. said...

too funny. I decided that we would try the elf this year but being the Martha that I am I couldn't settle for the elf that comes with the book.I found a great velvety, heirloom looking one in BHM last week. My luck LK will be creeped out too! We'll see.

Lisa said...

My kids love their Elf. He plays tricks and leaves them presents.

Lisa said...

My kids love their Elf. He plays tricks and leaves them presents.

Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

We have not tried anything like this. I'm not even sure Annalyn will grasp the concept of Santa this year - and I'm not sure how hard I'm going to try to explain it. Honestly, it's kind of nice to have one more year of no expectations. :)

Brandi said...

The Elf on the Shelf? This is our 3rd year with 'Elfie' and I LOVE ELFIE. I'm telling ya, when behavior gets out of hand all I have to do is say his name and they straighten up immediately. :)

It does get somewhat difficult to come up with new places to put him everyday and there has been more than one occasion when I forgot to move the stupid thing and had to come up with an excuse as to why Elfie just liked that particular spot, but we have fun with it. Our Elfie will even bring little candies for them if they've had a good week!

Stephanie B said...

OMG that was soooooooooooooooo funny! I almost gave my computer keyboard a coffee shower. Since Ollie is pretty close to my little one's age, I could definitely hear that alphabet conversation! (Like Abbott and Costello's "who's on first?") I had never even heard of the elf thing until your post. Sounds like a really cool idea. We may have to adopt an elf this year. Or send Santa a special letter requesting one. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in that parent handbook we got at the hospital after giving birth....

Anonymous said...

Hillary,
What!!!??? Santa's the only one I know of that "sees you when you're eating!!" Ha!! That "elf" thing w/get old real fast!! I'm w/O.--just forget it. BTW, Santa was reading your last post about me not being able to cook, you know...Much Love, Mom

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

I have never heard of the EOAS before, but the concept is brilliant! I may be passing this along to some friends.

My kids asked me straight up this year about Santa, and we didn't lie as usual. We told them. And now I have lost the last of my holiday behavior bargining chips. But Mrs. Claus (my SIL) is finally able to retire. Cause Santa himself was always working overtime in the toy factory and was unable to takea phone call. :)

One day I will have to share the secrets of the tattle phone with you. It's going to come in handy real soon... O & H are about the age that tattling is going to become an issue!

Kelly said...

You crack me up! I am not sure if it's the southern girl connection or our kids are close to the same age. Anyway, I LOVE your blog and am so glad I found it! I am not as diligent on my blog.

I am a fb fan as of yesterday I believe.

Matt, Carrie, Lucy and Molly Allen said...

hillary, you had me CRACKING up, once again! we don't do the elf, but every once in a while I do threaten to call Santa with a bad behavior report! it seems to work well enough. now that lucy is 5, her believing in santa days are numbered and by the time molly can understand, lucy will probably already know he's not real and ruin it for molly...oh well! ha!

Unreasonable Grace said...

Get the dvd for ELF with Will Farrell. That should sort things out for him ... and possibly scar him for life!
kim

~k said...

HA HA HA!

Off the subject- PERFECT Christmas for you and the hub:
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/24/nasa-to-give-away-artifacts-from-space/
Check it out!

holly said...

"f"n priceless! we love our elf and his name is bob. hadley has been asking about him all year. cant wait until friday when he appears!

Diana said...

Our Elf is Steve (NOT Stevie, as I suggested and thought was a cute name). Logan gets the idea totally, though I don't think it's really done all that much in terms of behavior modification. Cate just wants to touch him. We keep him out of reach for the kids, but Logan wouldn't touch him, anyway. He's supposed to move around each night, but tends to favor the same spot (hey, it's hard to come up with a new spot every night).
Last year, the first time we did it, Logan got very upset (fall out crying) that he never got to give Steve a hug. So we told him that on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve ONLY, he got to give Steve a hug and kiss to say goodbye until next year. He wouldn't loose his magic for the goodbye hugs.

annieck said...

HYSTERICAL!!!!! We are tossing around the idea of an elf this year. It's a HUGE deal in our town. We shall see...

Lydia said...

Oh my gosh! I had never heard of the Elf on the Shelf until my parents brought Jacob one this weekend. He thought it was funny b/c my mom made a big deal out of it. He refers to it as 'Happy'. I think it will work well in our house, considering that Jacob's birthday is in December too! Double threat! hahaha!

Amanda said...

That is too funny! We had a very lazy elf last year - Blake was too young to really grasp it so he just hung out on the baker's rack and was hardly noticed. This year we have started talking about it and are hoping it will be a good tool to help stop the whining. We used the elf name generator - you can type in your kid's name and it will give you an elf name. Blake's is Sparky Bubba-Louie and he thinks that is hysterical, so I think he is going to really get into it this year.
http://www.jokesunlimited.com/christmas_elf_name.php
Our elf will be arriving this weekend and so far I only have a handful of ideas, so I'll be watching you for more!

Sara said...

We love our Elf here! His name is Clyde, and he's set to appear Friday. I don't know if it helps with discipline, but I know the girls enjoy it.
And God Bless the Chester Drawers. We have one of those too! I wrote about it in school once and imagine my surprise when the teacher CORRECTED me. The nerve.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I think I just peed my pants a little! Elf on the Shelf is about THE only Christmas decoration/book I don't own. Too creepy!

Come check out my blog today, I have a little something for ya!

Happy Thanksgiving!

TexasBobbi said...

Haha, I love this and no we haven't tried the ELF. But Ian is too young this year.

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