Guess who’s back??? It’s that joyous time of year when all the little elves make their way into our homes to help bring even more magic to this season.
We’ve been doing elf on the shelf for almost five years now (craziness) and have always had a lot of fun with it. Sure it can be annoying at times, like now, as I’m laying in bed typing this out and turn to my husband and say, babe we have to move the elf! Thankfully he has to head downstairs anyway so it looks like I’m off the hook for tonight. This whole experience tests parents in their abilities to be quick thinkers, because if your little ones are anything like mine, they ask a lot of questions about our elf friend.
What I think is fun about all of this, is that you can be as creative with it as you would like to be. Some people do a great job at the silly things their elves get into every night, and others keep it simple with just moving him around. If our boys are extra good our elf leaves them a little marshmallow in the morning. We’ve always tied it back to explaining to them that Santa, and the elves, are also God’s helpers.
My strong point in all of this comes into play with his welcome back, north pole breakfast. Not for anything, I know we all love getting inspiration from each other, which is why I share this, but I do pride myself in feeling like I was kind of one of the OGs for going all out with these before the breakfast portion of it really caught on 😉
I always go with a little theme for the morning and make sure there are plenty of sweet treats along with our families favorite, pancakes. This year the boys wanted our no food coloring green pancakes and that’s exactly what they got. We were between two themes this year and when I told Eric the options, it was hands down, “so be good for goodness sake”, and I kind of love it. We need all the goodness around here.
Our elf, Alvin, always brings a few things for the boys and this year it was a mini gingerbread house kit and a really fun ninjabread kit.
It was so great to see the baby enjoying some of the fun this year. He was teeny tiny last year and was only a few days old. I still can’t believe I pulled it off last year, but I remember making a promise to myself that I would still do everything I could to make the holidays special for my big boys. And much like I mentioned last year, C did enjoy those pancakes this year.
The boys have really been into candy canes lately so I wanted to add them into the mix. I found a box of starburst candy canes that they have been loving. I should have picked up more because they have been a big highlight for them.
What I also really enjoy about doing a welcome back breakfast is the time it brings us all together as a family. The mornings during the week can often feel really rushed with getting out of the house and getting everyone where they need to be, on time. It’s nice to have a day to sit back and enjoy a slower pace.
We’re excited to see all of the fun our elf gets into this season and the memories it brings for our crew.
