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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Seeing RED



so I've never claimed to be Mom of the Year

and here's just another example as to why:


Meet 'RED'
He's our 'Elf on the Shelf'

So here's the deal. I started this thing late. 
I think I pulled him out of the box on Dec 3rd 
(even though I bought him in November)
I didn't read the book, I didn't read any instructions, 
and instead I told Claire before she went to bed:

hey - so what do you want to name this Elf?
At night when you sleep he goes and tells Santa if you've
been good or not. So if you want Santa to bring you 
a locket, you better be good so this guy
can give Santa a good report.

So she picked 'Red'.
(I guess that's what I get for waiting till the last minute)

and here's where Red has been sitting for the past THREE nights.

When Claire is not making good choices, I have been known to yell out:

Hey Red! Be sure to tell Santa tonight that Claire 
is having a bad attitude and isn't sharing with her brother!

It makes her stop for a minute, but I haven't been convinced
that she totally believes it's real or not.

until this morning.

Last night before going to bed Bob asked if we should move him.
Which I responded with, 'um ... I guess so ...'

So we tried a few different places 
but this elf is kinda stiff and he can't sit unassisted. 
So we shoved him in the vase.
I made sure that he was facing out into the living room
where he could keep a steady eye on things.


when you think about it ... this guy is kind of creepy.


oh - and we got the 'dark' version
(which actually looks like a nice tan)


so I forgot about Red when I came downstairs this morning.


but this girl certainly didn't. 


all of the sudden she started yelling

he moved! he moved! 
Red moved!

why did he move Mom?!


so I cringed a bit inside since I obviously put no effort into explaining 
how this Elf thing is supposed to work and then just nonchalantly replied with

of course he moved Claire - he leaves at night
to go give the report to Santa and this time he decided
to sit somewhere else where he can watch you.

If I didn't think she believed in him before, she certainly does now.
She kept telling Charlie how Red moved and how she just couldn't believe it.

I have to say, I think it's kind of fun that Claire believes in Santa.

In fact, this afternoon I was in the living room and she was in the kitchen
and I heard her yelling

hey Santa! Santa! 
Can you bring me a locket already?
Santa, can you hear me?

so I guess I should probably explain
that this isn't how you talk to Santa.

or maybe she knows the real dealio with Santa
and was just trying to give me a heads up.


6 comments:

Jill said...

Read the book! It will give you all the answers to the questions she will ask about Red! :) Glad you are having fun with it! Our Elf is named Rudy!

Lee Anne said...

We have been doing this with our daughter, but have sort of combined it with the Elf Magic (http://www.elf-magic.com/about.htm)idea.

One morning she woke up to snowflakes all over the ceiling, one morning the elf was in her carseat before school with a little M&M fan, today he was on our ceiling fan with an elf hat for her to wear (from the dollar store). It's so much fun to see her run around the house looking for him! You can get lots of ideas from the Elf Magic website about what to do with your elf.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm so glad you explained this! I have been seeing friends posting about "elf on the shelf" and was like, huh? I haven't had the time to look it up yet, so thanks for this post, lol!!!

Leanne said...

Oh my gosh...I sat in my office giggling. Your post today is sooo funny. My niece in Chicago uses "Ellie" for her daughter, Kaylin. Ellie moves from place to place and actually went to pre-school with Kaylin one day. It's the magic of Christmas!

Leah said...

Okay, I must really live in the stix to not know about this Elf! Or, it was like one of those times when I really tuned out my mother and one of 'those' talks! I missed it somehow, thanks R! I'm educated now, wish I would have had Elf in my house these past 9 years! :)

andy and meg said...

Rachel- HILARIOUS. I love how creepy and retro he looks. Adds to the effect....

:)

 
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