Olive the Elf, Week 1

Last year I decided to get an "Elf on the Shelf" as a fun behavior incentive for Caroline during the Christmas season. Little did I know what a beloved friend our elf, Olive (named for the book "Olive, the Other Reindeer"), would become. Not only did Caroline fall in love with her during the month leading up to Christmas, she talked about her frequently throughout the year after she went back to the North Pole. Also, it took hardly more than a mention of Olive's name to correct some sassy behavior a few times. ;) Not surprisingly, Caroline began her countdown to Olive's return (scheduled for the morning after Thanksgiving) before we even made it to Halloween!

In the days leading up to Olive's big reappearance, I thought of several ways we could set it up that would be exciting and surprising for Caroline. I finally decided that she would arrive on an airplane (Maggie's Little People plane), "land" on the front porch and ring the doorbell. This required me to sneak around and get out of the garage to the front door...at 6:30 a.m.!! I set up Olive in the plane, along with a copy of the Elf on the Shelf movie, rang the doorbell twice and then hauled it back into the house in time to say "What in the world was THAT?" as Caroline ran to the front door to investigate. It was awesome. :)

 

Day 1: Front porch arrival

Day 2: Perched high atop the kitchen cabinet

Day 3: "Hanging out" in the dining room

Day 4: Cozied into the ornaments on the mantle

Day 5: Snuggled into the Christmas tree

Day 6: Modeling the skirt Caroline left out for her the previous day

Day 7: The little stinker unfolded all of the girls' laundry in the basket. (um, not!) But she left some cute t-shirts for them to wear when they go to meet Santa tonight!

They wanted to pose in their matchy-matchy outfits with the "little Santa". Hope they look this happy when they meet the "real" big guy tonight at the mall.

I just wanted to close with this picture of a post I made on Facebook this week. It garnered lots of "likes", so maybe not everyone out there is a snarky scrooge who makes fun of traditions like Elf on the Shelf.

 

 

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