Ozzy.

Not this one...

But this one...



A few Christmas' back, I spotted this adorable little Elf on the clearance sales at our local Hallmark store. I fell in love instantly. Not because I read the box, and understood that this was a "magical" scout elf from the North Pole. No. Definitely NO! If I'd read the box, I might have put it back on the shelf. I fell in love for purely nostalgic reasons...my grandparents had one exactly like him that they hung over the doorway to their kitchen every Christmas. Yes...Christmas at Grandma's...and Bing Crosby, and dancing, and card games, and hard tack candy and chocolates of every possible kind all spread out on colorful plastic trays on the coffee table...within kids reach. This elf brought the memories flooding back in...so I bought it immediately.
And then I got home and read the book...and the "strings attached." And at first it sounded fun. He arrives at our house each season with St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th) and leaves again with Santa on Christmas eve. In the meantime his job is to keep an eye on the kiddos and report back to Santa each night. (He's a flying, spying magical elf, you know.) After a night of flying north and back, he lands at the house, in a different location each morning for the kids to find him, and be mindful. (right.) Sometimes he plays pranks thru the night. Sometimes he likes where he's at and doesn't move for several nights (if mom forgets.)
Truly, some nights it's fun and silly, and makes me feel like a kid dreaming/scheming up little pranks or places for the kids to find him in the morning. But mostly, it's become one more thing that demands energy from me at the holidays...not good energy...not focused on Jesus-energy. And I forget sometimes to remember about Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's when I see him, cause I'm forcing myself to remember to just move the darn thing somewhere else before I go to bed.
Alice and Emma helped me with the scheming this year...and on his last night with us...before catching the sleighride with Santa...he threw us one wing-dinger of an Elf-surprise. He "elfed" our family room. Paper chains, tacky gold tinsel that we found in a bag of stuff from a house-warming prank years back, colored lights and paper snowflakes...a kids christmas wonderland. It was a fun farewell...

And it's more fun now that the older kids can help in the surprise and fun for the younger ones. But I have to say (scrooge that I am) I'm really looking forward to the year I can just pull him out of the box and set him in the doorway to my kitchen, and let my grandkids "remember" songs and dancing, and cardplaying, and christmas treats within easy reach...a silly elf bringing smiles and happy christmas memories of grandma and grandpa's house.