Meet our New Addition...

His name is BIG E.... he is our "Elf on the Shelf." This is an ingenious idea that supposedly keeps kids on their toes to be good during the holiday season.  You see, Big E (our family's elf's name) is a Scout Elf for Santa.  He flies to the North Pole every night and reports to Santa about how good (or bad) Sam and Jake were that day.  Then the next morning, he is in a new place in the house - and Sam and Jake must locate him!  They can't touch him or he'll lose his magic and can't get back to Santa to tell him all the good things they have done! He can't talk, but he CAN listen (which is good in my book, because my kids - namely Jake - talk ENOUGH for ALL of the elves!!!!).  That is the condensed story behind this Elf on the Shelf.

All of this sounds like a perfectly wonderful solution to your kids having excellent behavior during the excitement of the holidays and Christmas looming around the corner..... unless your kids are Sam and Jake, that is!!!  I read the story and soon as Big E arrived.  Sam (and Jake even) listened intently - asking questions as we read.  When I closed the book, Sam looked at me really hard - deep in thought - then said, "I don't know if I can believe in all of that magic!" WHAT???? Really????? WHY NOT????  He has since had many, many, many, many, many (you get the idea) questions about Big E and Santa, how he flies, why he doesn't walk, why we can't touch him, why he won't talk, etc, etc.  My personal favorite is when he was contemplating about his touch causing Big E to lose his magic.  Sam said, "Well, if I do something bad that I don't want Santa to know, I'll just touch Big E."  Oh my.......

Jake, on the other hand, listened to the story, knows what Big E is here for, and could CARE LESS!!!!  He's going right on being little mischievous Jake and hasn't looked back.  He's of the mindset that he'll worry about that when Christmas actually gets here!  He certainly lives in the moment!!!!

Big E (he flew into the Christmas tree this morning!)

We also have a calendar on our door when the boys can cross off days until Christmas.  We have other important dates (Mimi's bday, Jen's bday, Pop Pop's bday, etc).  Sam loves crossing off the days and counting down until Christmas.  Jake, on the other hand, could yet again, care less.  When it's Christmas, he'll get excited about it then!  How is it that two children born of the same parents can be SOOOO different!?!?!?

Happy December aka Crazy Holiday month!!!!!