So...I had high hopes this year to whip Tony into shape. *Ahem* I wanted to start the whole thing off with a bang, so I wrapped Tony up (my mother-in-law had bought us the fancy box set with elf and book from Barnes & Noble last year, so this was easy) and let the boys work together to unwrap him on November 30th. We read the book again, named him again (see * below for clarification if necessary at this point), and found a good home for him to start off his adventures.
So far Tony has been very successful at remembering to travel back to the North Pole each night (I told you I would whip him into shape!). He has been found in our Jesse Tree ornament jar...
...writing a letter to Santa...
...and hanging from the ceiling fan by candy canes.
At this point I find it necessary to point out that our elf, Tony, is a very well behaved elf. He doesn't make messes or anything like that. There are two reasons for this:
- Since the whole point of having an elf is to encourage children to behave, it makes sense to me that the elf should also behave and set a good example for the children.
- I don't like messes. Any little mess I try to make will be increased ten fold by my three fat cats during the night. Plus, I don't want to clean up any mess...even a little one! Let me repeat: I don't like messes.
(NOTE: The first reason is the one I give when I'm trying to look like an awesome parent. The second reason is the reason I give when I'm being really honest with myself and others. Yes, it is all about me.)
Okay, now back to Tony's journey through our house so far...
Occasionally I try to place Tony Tony shows up in places that hint towards whatever activity I have planned for the boys that day. For instance, the day he showed back up holding an apple in our fruit basket was the day I was taking the boys shopping for our "Feed a Family for a Day" charity:
Then, right off the get basically, Tony almost forgot to visit the North Pole (see ** below). Luckily, Justin "reminded" Tony to get going and he ended up back in our house here which had absolutely no connection to the days activity because, well, I hadn't discussed the day's activity with Justin before hand...
Since then, Tony has been a pretty reliable elf popping up in a variety of places around the house:
At Day 11 there was almost another mishap...Tony forgot to take his trip until about 4:30 in the morning which is coincidentally the time I get up to go to the gym...
Then he was back on track again and has been trucking along nicely...though he's starting to run out of creative places to perch and that whole "go to a place that hints about the day's activity" has all but died completely. What can I say? Tony's creative juices - like mine - run out after awhile!
Our adventures with Tony so far have been a trip! I love listening to the boys hunt for him each morning and their excitement at finding him (well, as long as that hunt and those squeals of glee come after 6:00 a.m. anyway). Tonight Tony is going to make his way over to our Nativity scene and hang out with Baby Jesus as one more reminder to my little ones of what Christmas is really all about.
...And then after that he's going to gorge himself on sugar cookies and milk, write a thank you note to the kiddos on the magnadoodle, and pass out. After all,my his job will be done until next year!
...And then after that he's going to gorge himself on sugar cookies and milk, write a thank you note to the kiddos on the magnadoodle, and pass out. After all,
*I don't remember what we called Tony last year...whatever name Logan picked out I forgot to write down, so we had to rename him this year. His name is now Tony, as in Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man. My boys may be a little obsessed with super heroes...
**Meaning I constantly forgot about him until the next morning when Logan would shout, "Mommy, Tony didn't move last night!" Crap....
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