Elf on the Shelf

Last year, on super "after Christmas sale" online, I ordered an Elf on the Shelf." Christian hoped he would visit us from the North Pole when the holidays finally rolled around again.

It was a   l - o - n - g , torturous wait (for him), but on December 1st our little guy finally appeared!

Dec. 1st - he was found hanging out in Christian's stocking and had his book in the railing by him. We read that he was here to watch the kids and would report back to Santa. It also said that we got to name him, and the kids agreed that he would be Hermie :)

Dec. 2nd - he toilet papered our family room Christmas tree

Dec. 3rd - he was in the master bathroom where he'd written "Hi" on the mirror with toothpaste

Dec. 4th - he was in the kitchen drinking syrup out of the bottle with a straw

Dec. 5th - he copied himself on our printer!

Dec. 6th - he decorated the Barbie castle with twinkle lights and was lounging on the couch in there

Dec. 7th - he had a fishing pole made out of a chopstick with a paper clip hook, and was "fishing" in our Beta fish Leo's bowl. I'm so sad that I forgot to get a photo of it!

Dec. 8th - he was sitting on the server behind the couch with an X-box controller and games strewn on the floor in front of the TV

Dec. 9th - he was in the freezer, probably because he missed his cold home town. Didn't Christian capture him perfectly in the artwork on the previous post?

Dec. 10th - he mischievously drew all over our family photos with dry erase marker

Dec. 11th - he was hard to find, on his tummy behind a picture on top of Faith's armoire, and he had a stack of cards with silly Christmas jokes on them

Dec. 12th - another day I forgot to snap a picture! This time he was sledding down our railing on a Tupperware lid

Dec. 13th - he was hanging out in the shower with a wash cloth on his head

Dec. 14th - he was riding the pine cone reindeer in my bedroom

Dec. 15th - he was hanging out above the potty in the half bath off the family room. I think Buddy was too embarrassed to use that bathroom on that day!

Dec. 16th - he was in my front room office, embracing the Buddha I inherited from Grandpa Quinn 

Dec. 17th - he was waiting to take a ride in the Jeep Liberty

Dec. 18th - he was on the new credenza in between our entry hall and kitchen, holding the baby Jesus from the olive wood nativity Grandma Tesch had gotten on her trip to the Holy Land

Dec. 19th - he was trying to roast a marshmallow on our electric fireplace

Dec. 20th - he was in our master bedroom blinds

Dec. 21st - he had zip-lined with a mini candy cane down from the loft and into the family room tree

Dec. 22nd - he had apparently been driving around in Buddy's remote control truck

Dec. 23rd - he was hiding in my closet, encircled by glow stick bracelets

Dec. 24th - he was hanging from the chandelier 

That night he left a note (instead of Santa, who usually does it but was running behind and didn't have time to) saying that the kids could do better at minding us and not throwing fits, but were still good enough to get their gifts.

Good-bye, Hermie! We loved your magical visit this year and look forward to your return.