Jolly Good Time

It's officially mid-January and all the Christmas decorations have been taken down but Santa (and his pesky elves) still continue to be a constant topic of discussion around here. The kids can't quite accept that Santa has flown back to the north pole and that our very own elf (Graindy) went back with him. You see, Graindy spent the entire month with us (if you don't know about Elf on the Shelf - google it). Every morning he would appear in a new spot, ready to watch the kids and report back to Santa each night whether they were naughty or nice. A slew of parents had told me that the Elf on the Shelf was a godsent, because their children were so terrified of the elf giving Santa a negative report, they were on their best behavior every day of December. I would like to report that this was the case in the Forell household but, as usual, I was suprised.

For one, when I would threaten Sam with, "The elf is watching!" he would simply go into another room and push his sister. In his own words, "The elf can't see me over here." Boom, threat gone and buried. For two, the Elf is supposed to move EVERY morning. I imagined myself coming up with all these creative spots for Graindy to appear but most mornings, I would stumble downstairs at 6am and quickly throw Graindy on top of some bookcase or ledge, in hopes that the kids hadn't seen my last-minute attempt at being creative. Maybe next year I'll have Graindy solemn skiing down the stairwell in a puff of cotton ball snow but for now, I'm just happy Graindy went back to the Pole with his partner.

Once again, the kids were pretty terrified of Santa. Sam would have moments of bravery but Eleanor wanted NOTHING to do with him. She cowered anytime she got a glimpse of a red hat and when it was time for the dreaded family Santa photo, both kids screamed and kicked. And after the photo was done (with Sam hidden in Kerry's arms and Ella screaming at the top of her lungs) the photo attendant actually asked me, "Do you still want to buy the photo?" Yes, lady. Here's my $22 and while this may seem like two bratty children who despise Santa and everything associated with him, I like to call this "making magical memories."

Despite the Santa fiasco, we really did have a magical Christmas filled with holiday train rides, Christmas light gazing and a wonderful morning of gifts, love and laughter and two perfect little elves.