Meet Melf and Kelf. They are our elves. (Ring any bells Annie or Michelle?) Anyways it was the only names I could come up with on the spot. These are our two "elf on the shelf" elves. They appeared to remind the kids of Christ and get them excited and to be good for Santa. Here they are getting into a snowball fight with mini marshmallows. Melf is the serious one, Kelf causes trouble. They sometimes bring treats, but they also bring Christmas stories or remind the kids about Christ and the nativity. I dont know why I always thought the Nativity and traditional Santa Claus had to be distinctly different so this year I had our elves continuously talk about the baby Jesus, wise men and star. It was cool that even though we still do the make-believe stuff, the kids knew that the elves knew the real meaning behind Christmas too. Of course the big fun was seeing what mischief Kelf got himself into. He unwound the toilet paper rolls in the bathroom, door bell ditched the house, hid the baby Jesus, took apart our Christmas countdown rings, stacked our The C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S blocks into a high castle on the kitchen table. He was naughty but the kids loved it. It was hard to keep up and remember to do it, but well worth it.
I dont know how I feel about the whole Santa Claus thing recently. Of course we are still doing the whole big day cause my sister and her kids will be here this year. But I wonder every year if I am kind of shying away from it a little more and more. I CANT BELIEVE I AM SAYING THIS TOO, cause Cordelle and I's first real argument was over Santa Claus and when or when not to tell our kids. I came from a home where it was full fledge SANTA and Christmas morning was magical and exciting and of course we all knew the real meaning behind Christmas but it was way more reindeer and the big Jolly guy. We believed till we were probably way too old to believe, but we wanted to. And Cordelle just thought there was an age where you should tell your kids the truth. I was mortified. But now, I dont know....things have changed. I want my kids to know and understand CHRIST and not just Christmas. So I see things differently. Of course you can still do Santa and it can still be as exciting. But as a very good friend of mine told me, its really no different than make believe with princesses and super hero's. I mean really, kids go to Disneyland and its magical and they see people dressed up as Sleeping Beauty and Mr. Incredible and even though they know its pretend they still LOVE it. Why wouldn't it be the same with Christmas? We tell them the truth, but still make it fun. They can pretend that Santa is coming bringing them toys but they know its really us. But while they are young and its more fun to pretend or believe, they will. They are still getting presents that they dont know about and the excitement is still there to see what you got Christmas morning right? So it just makes sense that you could maintain the magic of Christmas but keep kids knowing the truth, the real meaning behind it all. Perhaps you could state that Santa is a symbol of Christ giving gifts to make people happy?? And I know as they grow and go further into Elementary, this traditional Christmas will get pushed and flood them and I am totally fine with that actually, but I kind of want them to get as much of the Christ and his birth stuff at home and from me. The truth first and then the worldly fluff and let them choose what they will believe. Ok, like any kid will still believe if their parent tells them its not true. Still though, does that make sense? Thats not saying we wont sing silly Christmas songs or totally get into the fun of make believe reindeer and elves. Thats fun! I totally love that! But I want them to know that its all pretend and just like when Seth dresses up as Iron man and I have to tell him he will not really fly if he jumps off the top stair, I think he will be ok with that and you know what the next day he's still going to dress up as Iron Man again cause its fun to pretend. What do you think? Does it matter if they believe? Maybe not. Will I really go this direction next year? I dont know. But it feels right somehow. Does that make me a stick in the mud parent? I hope not. I feel like I can be fun and play with the fun stuff and be serious about the serious stuff and not feel guarded that the truth might get out and shake their world. Hum... food for thought eh? Anyways we'll see how this Christmas season goes (I have determined not to say anything this year....I think my kids are young enough that either direction I go, I'll be okay with it for next year. I'm not going to force any Santa down their throats but I'll sit back and let them believe or dont believe in what their cousins do since they'll be joining us this year--I'd hate for anything to be said to people's kids that i love that don't share my same opinions). ANYWAYS.....
And this is my fireplace! I spent about 3 hours one weekend and went to down. We had this big tall book shelf we were going to take to DI and this old bed frame and it just clicked. So I found some thick butcher like paper and went to town painting and drawing my bricks. This took forever but i love the end result. So fun, when you dont have a real fireplace at Christmas time.
This year my ENTIRE family is coming and I'm pretty excited. We've never done a Christmas that wasn't up north. But we decided to FINALLY stay home this year and my family decided to follow, cause it was "my year." (Which really just means my year to pick a family to do Christmas for in my ward). What they don't realize is, we are probably going to continue doing Christmas at our house even when its not "my year." Oh well. It should be fun this year to switch things up.....and tight. Tallie and Jim have to work and I guess Mark too, so they won't be coming but everyone else will be here at least for Christmas Eve (thats 18 people!) Krista and Aaron are coming down the Saturday before and staying for 4 days. Our kids are SOOOO excited. I asked my kids who they were more excited for, Santa or their cousins? And believe it or not it was a toss up. I finally told them that they didn't have to choose cause they really were upset about the "one or the other" hypothetical question we had presented to them :) So....lots of Christmas preparations but I am excited to be host this year.
