Fred, our Elf on the Shelf, finally made his reappearance for this holiday season. You may remember his adventures from last year that you can read about here and here. Last year, he came on St. Nicholas Day. This year, in his wisdom, St. Nicholas thought it would be better to wait to come to our house on a Friday night instead of a Wednesday night. So, Fred came a few days later than last year. For about ten days before he showed up, the kids kept asking when Fred was going to get here. I told them I was pretty sure Fred wanted to come to our house when it was all decorated for Christmas, and that I couldn't decorate if it was a mess. Therefore, if the children hoped to hasten Fred's arrival, helping to clean was probably the best way to make it happen. Thanks Fred!!!
The big day finally came. The kids were super excited about their shoes full of treats, but even more so about Fred arriving. It turns out, Fred brought another elf with him (thanks to Aunt Sara!) The kids noticed the new, much bigger elf first. Jack yelled excitedly, "I think Fred grew!" But they soon noticed tiny Fred peeking down from the top of the door and realized they were lucky enough to have two elves!
The first step when you get a new elf is to name him. Jack was pretty set on Ned because he liked that the names would rhyme. Harry agreed, until I stupidly said that I thought Harry would want to name him Elfie. (His dragon is Draggy. His leopard is Leppy. His panda is Pandy. You get the picture.) Because of my mistake we had to call him Elfie Ned (and write it in the "official" book.) But, for the past few days, everyone just been saying Ned, so all is well with the world. Ned spends a lot of time hanging upside down, prompting Jack to say, "That Ned sure loves to be upside down." I have to say, I love the way the kids just talk about them like they are definitely real and have zero doubt about them.
Last year, Fred had an accident that Jack was sure would be one hundred percent healed by this year. (The chalkboard in the picture is actually the scene of the disaster, so I had some reservations about them being there. But there just aren't that many places for them to go!) When he saw the Fred still has a "scar" from that, he decided we just need to keep giving him hot chocolate. We had a big conversation about how sometimes scars just stay. (And thankfully he was long asleep when Fred's leg fell off again two nights ago.) By the time Christmas gets here, our time with our elves will have been fairly brief this year (Really, how many places can they be where Addie won't touch them and ruin their magic? Not a lot, I assure you.) but the kids have enjoyed every second of it. The effort to maintain the magic of childhood for as long as possible is well worth it. :)
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