Tag: 3-year-old

Last night, just as the sun was setting, the doorbell rang. Steven had just gotten home from work, and Cadence had followed him upstairs to horse around and jump on the bed while he changed out of his work clothes. When I opened the door, there was no one to be seen. There was just a package, with a handwritten note, for Cadence. I called up and told her she better hurry down to see what it was…

Cadence recognized her name immediately, and when we told her the package was from Santa, she cried, “Santa! He’s here! At Cadence’s house?” and tore into the box.

She wasn’t quite sure what to think about the little elf she found inside. Thinking that perhaps Santa was lying in wait, laden with more presents, she hurried to the window to look outside.

“Santa? He’s here? Where’s Santa?”

Steven and I laughed, and then explained that Santa had just sent the package, but that he wouldn’t be arriving until Christmas, which was still several weeks away. It took a good amount of persuading to convince Cadence that Santa wasn’t hiding in the bushes, and that he wanted her to read the book he sent her. We settled in on the floor for the story…

For those of you who haven’t already heard, Santa sometimes needs a little help keeping an eye on all the little boys and girls in the world. So, he likes to send one of his elves to help out. Cadence’s Nonna Dawn and Poppa Mark told Santa where to send his little helper, and Cadence’s own personal elf arrived just in time to make sure she does her best to be good in these final few weeks before Christmas.

And for those of you who have witnessed any of Cadence’s Terrible Two-style temper tantrums lately, you know that Santa sent this elf just in time to save Cadence from a stocking full of coal. Don’t believe our adorable little Batgirl has a naughty bone in her body? You better go back and read about Dinner War 2012.

Now, adopting one of Santa’s elves into the family is serious business. You have to give your elf a name and make sure you register him/her with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. By day, your elf keeps an eye on you and takes careful notes. Then, as soon as you fall asleep, he/she flies off to the North Pole to report to the Big Boss himself. Santa files away all of the reports, and uses them to decide whether your name appears on the Naughty List or the Nice List come Christmas.

As we read all of this to Cadence, she considered it carefully, all the time keeping a wary eye on the little female elf she’d pulled from Santa’s box. After much deliberation, she decided to name her elf Cosette, and we gave her a seat of honor in the window as we settled in for dinner.

A few hours later, Cadence told Cosette good night, and then headed to bed, knowing that Santa was going to get a very good report.

Funny thing about elves, they’re a mischievous lot, which we found out when we woke this morning. When I brought Cadence downstairs to have a little breakfast before heading to school, this is what we found…

Seems Cosette had a little fun playing with Cadence’s blocks after she returned from the North Pole. Cadence got a big kick out of Cosette’s tower-building skills, and headed off to school with a smile on her face. I reminded her to be good, so she could tell Cosette all about it when she got home.

And she did.

I couldn’t help but smile when I heard Cadence telling Cosette all about her day at school…

“I go to school with Ms. Becky. Played with Carter and Jacob and Levi. I went pee pee on the potty and played hot potato and ate a cookie snack. And no timeouts.”

I peeked around the corner and managed to get a couple photos of Cadence reporting to Cosette before it was time for lunch and a nap.

So, even though the day has not quite ended, I have a feeling that Cosette will be flying to the North Pole with another good report on Cadence for Santa Claus. Too bad our little elf can’t hang around all year long! But I guess we’ll just enjoy it while it lasts. 🙂