Elf on the Shelf 2016 – Days 1-3

Oh how this blog has been neglected! Life just got a little crazy, as it tends to do around here. But, the return of the elves made me think it’s as good of a time as any to get back to some blogging. It will not likely be an every day thing–I’m neck deep in writing a novel (I just “won” National Novel Writing Month by writing more than 50,000 words during the month of November, but that is another story for another time), and our lives are busier than ever with work, projects, kids’ activities, and time with family and friends. But I do want to get back to some semi-regular blogging, maybe once a week, just to keep the creative juices flowing.

On Thursday, Cosette and Leo arrived from the North Pole. Cadence has been anxiously (and not quite patiently) waiting for the elves. Apparently some of her school friends’ elves returned just after Thanksgiving (and Stevie and I have decided we may need to stage some sort of intervention and round up all the elf parents so we can all be on the same page with a return date so we don’t have to answer questions of why Cosette and Leo aren’t late and yes maybe they’ll show up in the morning, we’ll just have to see).

Gotta be honest here, Stevie and I definitely haven’t been looking forward to the elves’ return. We’re like, what, four years into this now? Five years? I know it’s just one month out of the year, but I’m telling you folks, it’s kind of exhausting. I keep telling myself that I’m going to sit down and make a list of what we’re going to do with the elves every day, and yes, I know that there are about a million pages on Pinterest with ideas, but still, the day-to-day logistics of plotting and actually moving the elves around the house and making up stories to explain their crazy antics to our oh-so-curious almost 7-year-old just wear a person out. Stevie can’t believe that Cadence still thinks the elves are real, but the kid has an amazing imagination, so it sort of makes sense. Otherwise, she’s just playing us, seeing how long she can drag this on and make us dance like little monkeys on a leash. (And knowing how freakin’ smart she is, that’s not really so farfetched now is it?)

Dance, little monkeys. Dance.

Mostly, the way the elf antics happen around here, it will get to about 10:00 p.m. and Stevie and I are finally wrapping up everything we needed to do for the day and we’re tired and ready to just veg in front of the TV for a bit or head to bed, and one of suddenly remembers that we haven’t moved the elves. Then we spent the next 15 minutes cursing and looking for inspiration and telling ourselves that we only have 23 more days of this madness.

One day at a time, folks. One day at a time.

Day 1

Cosette and Leo snuck in through the chimney sometimes during the wee hours the morning of December 1. Cadence was giddy when she found them, right up until she realized they snuck into her stash of new gel pens to make the sign trumpeting their return. But she got over it quickly. She’s too excited to have them back to be mad at them for long.

Henry, on the other hand…he’s not quite sure about these little creatures. He’s a little on the shy side with new people, and so far, he’s been giving the elves wary glances and trying to figure out if they are friends or foes.

Day 2

Yesterday morning, Cadence bounded downstairs to eat breakfast and see what Cosette and Leo had gotten themselves into, but they were nowhere to be seen. She was upset, thinking maybe they’d returned to the North Pole and gotten lost on the way back. Then, when she went upstairs to brush her teeth and get ready for school, she discovered quite a scene in her bathroom.

Not only had Cosette and Leo cleaned the bathroom, they’d decided to do a little decorating of their own. Stevie and I told Miss C that the elves must have been worried that Santa was going to put her on the Naughty List she wasn’t cleaning her bathroom the way she was supposed to. Guess Miss Cadence is going to have to do a better job of keeping her room and bathroom clean. Thank you elves for giving her a little motivation.

Day 3

This morning, Cadence was cracking up when she found Cosette and Leo practicing their acrobatic skills on a couple trapezes they fashioned for themselves out of string and pieces of a drinking straw. Even Henry got a laugh out of the elves’ crazy antics.