DAY # 5 The Elf Chronicles (Elf On The Shelf ideas)

After spending my first weeks on Pinterest, it was hard not to notice the Elf on The Shelf pins.  At that point i had never heard of the elf idea and wasn't very interested in it.  However, i have an amazing little sister (who isn't so little, she's 26) who was sooooooooo excited about the concept.  She doesn't have any kids of her own and lives vicariously through my 3 so of course i obliged and started my research.  From what i could gather, Elf came to live with you until Christmas.  Every night he would fly to the North Pole and report about the kind of day your child had.  This was the part that i liked!  I was already thinking "Oh no, you've had a hard time listening to mommy today and Santa is gonna be so sad to hear about it!"  So off i went to Barnes and Nobles to buy our little guy. 

That afternoon while i was gone to get the kids from school, a Christmas package magically appeared on our front porch (Grammy helped me out).  The kids were so excited and ripped right into the paper.  My oldest, Preslie who is 8, read the note from Santa.  To sum it up, it stated that Santa was a little disappointed with their behavior and would be really sad if they ended up on the Naughty List, so he was sending his special elf friend to keep an eye on them.  That night we read the story that came along with our elf and i could see just how excited they were about the whole idea.  (We did this a few days before Thanksgiving as Preslie was going to be gone and i wanted to make sure she would be there to meet him).  After much deliberation, they decided on the name Tattle, as in Tattle Tale!

And so the Elf Chronicles was born.

If you'll excuse me for a minute, i feel the need for a "soapbox" moment.  I have read tons and tons of posts and comments about "Why in the world would the elf do "bad" things at night!  You are trying to teach your kids to be good and your elf, who reports back to Santa, is being bad!"  or "I don't understand the whole "mischief" idea.  He's an Elf on the Shelf for crying out loud!  He's supposed to stay on the shelf!" and  "You are ruining your kids by lying to them.  First you lie about Santa and then you take the lie one step further and lie about the elf.  Your kids will need therapy!"  So here's my take....Your kids are only little for so long.  They only believe in magic (Santa, Tooth Fairy, kisses make boo boos better, flying reindeer, and the list goes on) for so long.  My mom always told us that Santa would come see you as long as you still believed.  Well let me tell you, Santa STILL comes to see me and my sister because there is no way in the world we would ever say he didn't exist  LOL.  Elf isn't trashing the house, he's not smoking dope or drinking, he's not stealing the car, or sneaking out of the house!  He's just having a little fun at night while the kids are sleeping and he is bored.  Plus, there is nothing more awesome than watching your children race down the stairs every single morning to go see what elf did while they were asleep!  They love it!  We're making memories  :)

Off the soapbox now.  Here is what Tattle has been up to over the last couple of weeks...

1st Tattle ate all that was left of the Halloween candy
2nd Tattle had a Monster Truck Race
3rd Tattle drew silly faces on our family picture with Dry Erase Marker



4th (Thanksgiving night i forgot so had to come up with something quick) Tattle hid in the tree  :)
5th Tattle played teacher to the toys and read them a Christmas book
6th Tattle went fishing for Goldfish



7th Tattle made Reindeer donuts for the kids for breakfast.
8th The silly elf decorated the tree with new underwear for the kids
9th Elf snow angels in sugar



10th Tattle toilet papered the Christmas tree
11th A little note to remind the kids to be good
12th Elf started the countdown to Christmas



13th Tattle left a note about their bad behavior and doing better!
14th Army guys captured Tattle and are demanding an army jeep from Santa  LOL
15th Tattle stole Justin Bieber's getup and serenaded the barbies  :)



16th Cotton ball bubble bath time
17th Tattle got stuck while decorating the car for Christmas
18th Oops!  Forgot to flush!  Did you know elves pee green?



19th Super Tattle ready to fly (I had to post all 3 photos as they are funny to me  LOL)



20th Tattle left holiday Toaster Strudel and Green milk for breakfast. (2nd pic is of the note he left with it)
21st Tattle played Call of Duty on the Xbox



Meet Farkle and Muggins!  This was where i decided that we needed 3 elves, one for each of the kids when they are grown, plus 3 could have more fun  :)  So i went down to the antique mall and searched around and found these guys.  They needed some work, Farkle had green hair and no hat and his arms were one solid piece and Muggins legs were twice as long and his arms were also one piece.  So we did a little surgery on all 3 elves.  On top of fixing the previously stated issues, i went in and added wire to their arms and legs to make them more pliable.  You can learn how to do that HERE

22nd Tattle, Muggins, and Farkle decorate an elf tree and hang elf stockings  :)
23rd Three elves take on a T-Rex dinosaur puzzle!



So there you have it.  Our last 23 days with the crazy elves.  I wouldn't change a minute of it and no, it's not too much hassle.  It takes about 5 minutes before i go to bed  :)

For more elf ideas try these pins:
http://pinterest.com/pin/6051780718868057/  original blog post can be found HERE
http://pinterest.com/pin/6051780718851993/  original blog post can be found HERE


Hope you enjoyed our Elf Chronicles!  I will update the rest of the elf shenanigans on Christmas Eve!

???  Pinterest Win / Pinterest Fail ???
I would say WIN!