Magic Elves

Meet Tinsel and Twinkle. They are the little elves that Santa sends to our house in December to keep an eye on the kids for him to make sure they are being good. (I love this little trick of Christmas - makes my life so much more pleasant when I have something extra to keep Katy in line) But we need to keep an eye on the elves too because each night they find something new to keep them busy, and sometimes get into mischief! This will be our second year hosting the elves and Kaitlyn is very excited to see where she finds them each day.

They showed up on our doorstep this morning with their passports, a letter of introduction/instruction from Santa, and their report forms that will be given to Santa on when he pickes them up on Christmas Eve. Kaitlyn's response, "Well, then we'd better be good!"

I have to admit that this year I wasn't totally prepared for the elves yet. The first of Dec just kind of crept up on me and Sam actually reminded me last night that they were showing up today. So I was secretly getting the letter written and updating the pastports while Katy was watching a cartoon before bed last night. Then the seldom experienced but very gratifying moment when I showed everything to Sam and HE WAS IMPRESSED! :) He even told me that our kids are lucky to have such a creative mom! Sorry - just had to share because a lot of the time guys just don't "get it" and I was impressed with him for expressing those sentiments.

Here is my Elf Schedule
1-on doorstep w/
-letter of introduction
-passport
-report
2-crumbs all over, hiding in laundry room by mini vac (Didja know elves live off crackers and water??)
3-in stocking w/ coloring pgs*
4-in kids’ closets
5-in living room with Ty’s bday presents
6-making breakfast (on counter, in cupboards)
7-under K’s bed
8-watching a movie w/ popcorn, blankets, new DVD?*
9-in hall w/ paper snowflakes*
10- left note on computer
11-in car
12-making cookies - dough in fridge, one in cupboard
13-TBD
14-TBD
15- in kitchen/living room w/ craft project*
16-in bathtub (clothing trail?)
17- in freezer with ice cream
18-reading books in Ty’s room w/ new book*
19-tree
20- in Katy’s room having a cotton ball snowball fight
21- outside - can see them from windows
22-my room
23- living room/kitchen w/ thank you card made out letters from newspaper
24-Katy’s room? Outside? Under the tree?
**have ready and waiting by the cookies and egg nog for Santa to pick up


I can't remember where I first saw this idea but for those of you that are interested, I did get a lot of inspiration from http://www.organizedchristmas.com/. They even have the reports, etc that you can print out. Just look for their Magic Elves section.

Update (12/13): I am adding a bit more information due to lots and lots of emails asking for more! I am happy to give you even more if this doesn't get you off to a good start. Feel free to keep emailing. And if you do implement this be sure to let me know!

Here are a couple of links that will give you ideas on how to "explain" the elves showing up. http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=33
And though I can't find it right now, I think the letter I put with the elves last year (to start the tradition) must have looked something like this http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=32 Be sure to look all around this site - it has tons of cute ideas!
Someone has also started up a Magic Elf profile on MySpace LOL.

I have also found that there are some "package deals" that you can get a set of elves along with a book about their story. Just do a search on the internet for Elf on the Shelf or The Night Before Thanksgiving (I think this is the better of the two).

And I meant to tell you - I had the devil of a time finding stuffed elves in the stores last year. (this was long before I stumbled across the package stuff, but I think the elves I found are cuter) So you may just want to skip the search and go directly to Amazon.com to buy your elves :)