This Christmas was a bit of a Charlie Brown Christmas for us, but the one plan I actually followed through with was buying an elf (even if I did grab him at the last minute from a shelf in Costco as I walked past), and I managed to grab what I now understand to be the one non-creepy elf on the market.
Though I loved the concept of a magical elf visiting from the North Pole, there are three specific things I didn't like about the traditional Elf on the Shelf story. Namely:
1) I don't like that the elf is there to keep an eye on behavior and report back to Santa. I've never used "Santa is watching you" as a motivation for behavior, and I certainly didn't want to start that with an elf.
2) I don't like that the elf is purposely naughty and causes mischief. He's there to watch for kids' good behavior, but then he purposely gets into trouble? It makes no sense.
3. I don't like that the elf can't be touched or he loses his magic. Magical things are meant to be played with. End of story.
So, I bought the elf, and then I completely changed the rules. He first appeared on our kitchen counter in the middle of the day. Bella found him. Truthfully, he had been sitting there for a few days without notice, because Mama was over-thinking his grand entrance and, consequently, had done nothing. Fortunately, I had already written a note from Santa, so when Bella noticed him and said, "Why is there an elf on our counter?" I was ready with a legitimate answer.
"Oh look, baby! There's a note from Santa!" The letter explained that this elf, Jolly, was one of Santa's newest elves at the North Pole. According to Santa, it takes a long time to train elves in everything they need to know to prepare for Christmas, so he asked Bella to help. Would she be willing to let Jolly stay with us until Christmas, and let him participate in everything we do? With daily trips to the North Pole to tell Santa everything he had learned, it was a sure way to help Jolly learn everything he needed to know for Christmas.
Of course, the answer was an enthusiastic, "YAY!" She immediately sat down with Jolly and her writing board and started showing him how to draw candy canes.
After spending an afternoon drawing pictures with Jolly, Jolly (who doesn't need nearly as much sleep as a small child), wanted to surprise Bella by drawing some pictures of his own:
Hee hee. Oops. (I do not condone gratuitous elf naughtiness, but an honest mistake from a young elf is understandable. That's the purpose of him being with us.) Bella corrected his mistake, ever so gently. The next day, Jolly wanted to do something sweet for Bella, so he made her breakfast:
Jolly had NO idea that children can't eat plates of candy for breakfast. In fact, he was a little mortified that Bella couldn't eat it, and felt kind of sorry for her. We left it for him though, and it was gone when we got home that afternoon.
The next day I taught Bella to make snowflakes from paper, and she in turn showed Jolly. When she woke up the next morning, we discovered that Jolly had been busy during the night. It may or may not have taken him four episodes of Dr. Who to cut them all out, but he turned out to be quite proficient. And Bella was absolutely delighted with her winter wonderland.
And yes, in all of this, Bella pretty much fell in love with him. She became attached immediately. An unexpected bonus: no pressure. I heard (and still hear) other moms talk about how stressful it is to try to remember to do something with the elf all day. Since their kids look forward to that once daily visit from the elf, they notice when he's not there. But since Jolly was with Bella all the time, there wan't any pressure. I could grab him any time she wasn't looking, and just move him to a different location. And when I had time, I'd do something special with him, but never felt guilty if I couldn't. Winning situation for everyone.
One nigh we all stayed home and watched The Sound of Music together and drank hot chocolate.
When we had all the ice rain down on us, we caught Jolly staring out the window:
We guessed that he was probably thinking about his home at the North Pole.
Bella slept with him every single night. NEVER went to bed without him.
One night, she and Jolly watched the Curious George Christmas movie, and in the movie George has a tree shaped chart that helps him know how many days are left until Christmas. When she woke up the next morning, Jolly had made her one just like it.
Jolly even went to Arizona with us. One night Jolly disappeared, and the next morning Bella was ELATED to find him here:
And yes, she believes. I even told her up front that Jolly wasn't real...that he was just pretend, but that we were going to have fun pretending. But she is of a certain disposition, and at just the perfect age, where she can't fully explain some of the things that happened - and thus, she naturally believes in the magic of it. And I'm okay with that.
Jolly will definitely be back next year. She wouldn't dream of having it otherwise.
