Fisher The Elf

 

 If you have small children or have been anywhere near pinterest, I'm sure you've heard of or seen the Elf on the Shelf.  I gave in to the hype this year and went for it.  I was so excited about all of the fun things that I could do with him and how excited Colby and Maci would be to find him each morning.  What I didn't think about beforehand was the whole idea of the Elf on the Shelf.  Basically (if you don't already know), Santa assigns each house an elf.  The elf watches over the kiddos all day to see if they are being naughty or nice and then flies back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa.  The elf is not allowed to speak to the children and the children are not allowed to touch the elf, or else he will lose his "magic." 

It's a cute story and the kids really bought into it.  Part of me felt a little weird, though.  I was guilting my children into being good simply because an elf was watching and would tattle on them if they did something bad.  Coal or toys?  I guess it just goes along with all of the Santa Christmas hype.  Which obviously is not the reason that we celebrate at all.  Hmmm.  What's a Momma to do?  Now I'm not against Santa or all of the commercial traditions of Christmas.  I think they are a magical and fun part of childhood that is not all that bad.  So I decided that the Elf on the Shelf was not a bad thing, depending on how you present it.  I tried not to focus on the "someone is watching you so you better be good or else" part of it and focused more on how fun it was that Santa sent us a special elf to be our friend at Christmas time.

So...

On December 1st a funny little elf showed up in Colby's room on his shelf (no picture of the first day - oops).  He came with a book that explained all about himself and why he was here.  The book gave instructions that Colby should pick a name for him to activate his magic.  The name Colby chose: Fisher.  And so Fisher's adventures began.  Like I said before, he stays in the same spot each day to watch and then flies back to report to Santa each night after the kids are asleep.

 

 

He really lived up to his name...

 And somehow Fisher knew when the kids would be going to Grandma's for the day while Mommy was at work and tagged along with them.

He got into Colby's activities when they were left out...

And found himself in some awkward predicaments.

 There were a few days that Santa wanted to send special gifts.  This note from Fisher says, "I told Santa that you were extra good -at the doctor -cleaning up your messes and -doing your homework.  So he sent these gifts just for you!  Keep up the good work!"

Hanging with his best buddy.

 Helping himself to a snack...

Wishing Daddy a Happy Birthday!

Hanging a homemade decoration Colby had made...

He got a little sneaky some days.  Here he is trying to hide in the tree and watching through a telescope!

 "Write your letter to Santa Claus and I will deliver it to him for you tonight!"

And the resulting letter:

Sitting in the kitchen.

 Another treat day - gingerbread house kits!

He put all these candy canes on the tree :)

And even Fisher the Elf knows the real reason we have Christmas.

Time to fly away until next year.  He wrote a good-bye letter on Christmas Day.

Funny enough, it was Maci who was most excited to find Fisher each morning.  Colby would forget about it most of the time.  Maci woke up looking all around and saying "Fiser, eh are you?"  Colby was a little sad to read his good-bye letter though.  He said he would miss Fisher a lot. 

The Elf on the Shelf was successful and I think we will continue the tradition. :)