As much as I love Thanksgiving, I gotta admit that I am counting the days until I can decorate our Christmas tree, start listening to carols, sip hot chocolate while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, & just soak up the joys of the holiday season. I’ll admit it, I’m a total sap when it comes to all things Christmas and each year my main goal is simply to create wonderful memories and traditions that my girls will always remember.
And we have a lot of traditions! They start on the day after Thanksgiving, when we put up all our decorations and then decorate a gingerbread house. We have a wooden Advent calendar that the girls can’t wait to open each morning. On Christmas Eve we always have a cookie decorating contest. We pick out the prettiest cookies and deliver them to the local fire station after church, then go home and enjoy a dinner of cheese fondue (yum!)
This past weekend we decided to add something new. I had heard about the Elf on the Shelf from several of my friends & I thought it would be a fun surprise for the girls this year. For those of you not familiar with it, the Elf on the Shelf is a little toy Elf that watches over your kids and reports back to Santa each night.
There is a special picture book that comes along with the Elf to explain how it works, but the concept is pretty simple. Kids are allowed to talk to the Elf and are supposed to give it a name, but they are not allowed to touch it or it’s magic will go away. Each night the Elf magically travels to the North Pole to report back to Santa, and each morning the Elf returns to a different spot, which the kids are supposed to find each morning.
On Saturday morning Husband made a special breakfast & we read the story & introduced the girls to Emily the Elf (their choice, not mine.) Trouble didn’t totally seem to grasp the concept, but Princess was enthralled! They have loved waking up each morning since to go find Emily & while I can’t say my children have been perfectly behaved since Emily joined us, I can say that Princess is currently cleaning her room as I type, & I will take what I can get.
What are your favorite holiday family traditions?
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P.S. I completely forgot to pick & announce the Operation Christmas Child giveaway winners on Friday, so I am doing it today instead: Congratulations to Tiah (#3) and Claire (#54)–you both won $50 worth of FREE product coupons! (Winners chosen at random using Random.org)
Note: This post was in no way sponsored or endorsed by Elf on the Shelf. I purchased our Elf using Swagbucks from Amazon.com, where it is currently selling for $35.99 with free shipping; You can get it a little cheaper at BarnesandNoble.com, where it is currently $29.99 with free shipping.
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Debbie November 21, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Very Very cute idea! Can I ask which frosting recipe you use for your icing? I like the way it sets up, I’ve been trying to find a nice one that sets up but remains soft on the inside.
thanks!
Ruth November 21, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Hey Debbie, I use Martha Stewart’s royal icing recipe from her Cookies cookbook. I did a detailed post on making sugar cookies a while back. Here is the link:
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2010/08/20/how-to-make-sugar-cookies/
Kim H November 21, 2011 at 6:04 pm
What do you do to earn so many swagbucks? It has taken me months just to get 260 swagbucks
Debbie November 21, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Awesome! Thankyou. I was just checking out her website the other day! I’ll have to do some more diggin and check out that book! I love making sugar cookies! the one staple in my holiday cookie tray.. sugar cookies & butter balls.. Gotta have them both!
Claire November 22, 2011 at 3:53 am
Also my favorite icing recipe AND she has my favorite tart dough (ahem, sorry… “Pate Brisee”) Best tart dough ever over the years!!. Pumpkin tart making starts tomorrow night – yahooo!!!!
Kim H November 21, 2011 at 5:51 pm
I have swagbucks, but how did you pay with swagbucks on amazon. Im new to this
Ruth November 21, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Every time you earn 450 Swagbucks you can exchange it for a $5 Amazon gift card. It takes a couple weeks for the gift card to show up in your account (it is an e-giftcard), but then you can just use it on Amazon like a regular gift card. You can save up for higher value ones, but the $5 ones actually use the fewest swagbucks per dollar, if that makes any sense. You can use multiple $5 giftcards on one order–this time I used 7!
Shelley November 21, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Target also has The Elf on the Shelf for 29.95.
Jessica November 21, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Decorating the tree and house while listening to Christmas music, our friends who come caroling every year and bring us cookies, reading sweet Christmas stories as a family and then talking about our many blessings. I also love when the kids open their Christmas Eve PJ’s. Beautiful pics Ruth! Come visit my blog today for a guest post, the first of a new series called “Motivate Me Monday”, my friend Camber shared her story of weight struggles. Miss you!!
runningtobeskinny.com
Claire November 22, 2011 at 3:22 am
We L-O-V-E Elf on The Shelf! My Mom actually started this with my kids last year since they had them for a week last December. I wish I could post pics here. Looking forward to pulling “Elf” out this coming weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Claire November 22, 2011 at 3:32 am
Oh my GOSH – I got ahead of myself and posted about “Elf” (my kids are so creative with the naming convention – haha) and I am sooooo happy to have won this giveaway!! YAY!!! And today is our wedding anniversary so I am SURE the Husband will be super-thrilled that we won… more coupons!! LOL ! I, for one, am beside myself happy!
Thank you, thank you!!! More importantly, I was so touched by this original post and reading about how others have helped those in need – and I am so VERY thankful for this blog, Ruth.
Cherleen @ yesiamcheap November 22, 2011 at 11:19 am
My kids have always wanted that Elf on the Shelf. I think I may get them next time I go shopping, depends on the budget… What I would really like to start is a tradition of gift-giving and sharing to less fortunate children in orphanage. I hope we can do it next year when my youngest is old enough.
Sarah C November 29, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Hey Ruth,
I don’t have any children but I have two nephews (5 yo and 4 mos). This weekend An Elf story came on friday night and it is the cartoon story of Elf on a Shelf. So, I told my nephew that I had heard if we watch the movie then we might get an elf from santa. So, we watched it. I had wrapped up the book set like it was a package from the north pole and at the end of the movie “there was a knock at the door” he was soooo excited and it was like Christmas morning already. It is going to be a great tradition!
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