"Miles" The Elf Is Back.

Last Christmas when we started the tradition of elf on the shelf I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had no clue what I was going to do with this elf, and how I was going to find the energy to have our little guy maneuver around the house without any shenanigans. Pinterest was a blessing, and after sing some of the stunts that some of these elves pulled off were a bit too overwhelming for me. There is so much creativity involved in how one portrays their own elf and some of their actions are funny, dumb, a little appropriate, and way over kill for my taste. I tried to mimic some of their ideas, but decided to be creative on my own. I decided that our elf was going to be filled with simplicity, and it wasn't until I saw this photo on Instagram after the Connecticut school shooting that changed my whole perspective on how I viewed the elf. Although this little elf doesn't really creep my kids out too much, or has added any stress to our lives so far this year I realized that our elf can truly be a "fun, simple blessing", and a good "silent" friend in our lives. Even though I've pinned sooooo many ideas of what "Miles" can do I made the decision that I wasn't going to use this little guy as a behavior tool, and that he is going to be an easy going elf, and that I wasn't gonna go out of my way for him to have a good time, and cause havoc in our home. 

So ever since Miles stepped into our home on December 1st, he has been pretty laid back. On the first day Miles arrived, Noah & Chelsea woke up they immediately looked around the house to see where he was. Noah mostly laughs at the little guy, and doesn't say much. He'll look at him with a huge grin, and say "why is he just sitting like that?" I think Noah is still young to understand why we have this elf, or maybe he realizes that he's part of Christmas, and that he comes out only at Christmas along with the other decorations we have downstairs. He even asked me if I took him out of the basement this year which is weird because he is tucked away in a pretty good hiding place. He's a very smart little boy, and again it could just be that because he's dressed in red, an elf, that he exemplifies Christmas. Sounds good to me, but to be totally honest...Noah doesn't show too much interest in him.  I think that if our elf was somewhat of a transformer that Noah would totally be interested in him! ha ha! As a matter of fact he moved him the other day from sitting next to my favorite goblet glasses to lying down on them! When Chelsea asked why he moved him he said, "because he's tired of moving around all the time." I think he wanted to see if he was real, and if he could move. That was the first time our elf was touched! But you know what? I don't care. As long as Noah find's him amusing with no ill feelings towards him & that Chelsea doesn't mind if baby brother moves him around is no big deal to me!  

Chelsea will be entering the double digits soon and it amazes me how her mind is truly a child's one. She really believes in the magical part of Christmas when it comes to Santa & our elf, & it's sweet the way her imagination flows. Having a teacher last year who had an elf on the shelf in their classroom got her even more excited in really believing in all the joy and magic that elves bring. That was also the time when she discovered that all elves are different, and that the one in her classroom was kind of like ours. Well behaved, and having fun in the process. I personally wanted Miles in my home specifically for the holidays to ease our stress, and make us happy...not to discipline our kids, and wear us out. 

There will be no slashing furniture with a knife, or bathing in the bathroom sink with Barbie (Chelsea has never even played with barbies), no making huge messes in the kitchen spreading sugar or flour all over my kitchen counter. 

What there will be is simplicity, and calmness. 

So far we have found Miles sitting in a huge bowl of cocoa puffs, sitting quietly under their small Christmas tree, hugging our Jesus statue on the piano, making himself look pretty sitting inside our bowl of christmas potpourri (he'll definitely smell good throughout the month of December), and yesterday he got stuck inside a glass jar full of cupcake liners. He's been a fun elf & if he's trying to make these kiddies laugh it's working! 

Chelsea's expression in words when she saw him bathing in a huge bowl of cocoa puffs, "mom...Miles is bathing in cocoa puffs instead of marshmallows. Funny elf." My expression in words was, "He's wasting food, and that's unacceptable!" So we carefully grabbed the bowl, and slowly poured some of it into a bowl for breakfast for the kids, and luckily Miles was undisturbed this time. 

One thing I do have to add about him being a "different" elf are his eyes. It's all in the eyes right? How one comes off when they look at you. Chelsea did mention how funny he is that he's always looking sideways, and never forward. I personally believe it's all how we view our elf. I look at him as being fun, not creepy. Sweet, and not mischievous. Caring, and not rude. Sensitive, and not callous. His rosy cheeks indicate that he's happy all the time, his hair neatly tucked in inside his hat tells me that he's well groomed, and he's always looking sideways because he's too shy to look us straight in the eye with those big brown eyes of his. It's all at how we look at him, and so far he's a keeper. 

I'm not sure how much longer my kids will believe in him, but it has been a real joy without too much added stress  or creativity to have Miles in our home during Christmas, and as long and he is well-behaved, and contains himself in a proper manner he is welcome in our home every Christmas until the time comes for the kids to grow older, and possibly say goodbye.

And it will be up to them if they want to build this tradition  with their future posterity. 

Who knows, but for now I will continue to do it with grace and always instill my kids the real reason for this season. 

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