Meet Charming

This year my kids got to meet our very own ELF ON THE SHELF

They absolutely ADORED him and were SO EXCITED to wake up every morning

to see where he had moved to. In fact, sometimes they would wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to check on him. It was like Christmas Eve EVERY MORNING. Sheesh. Here's what he was up to:

 Reading stories to the little dolls in the dollhouse.

 Rolling down the stairs in a toilet paper roll.

 Trying on Mommy's makeup and writing on the mirrors with lipstick.

 Made us little elf pancakes.

 Holding the Baby Jesus.

 Tangled up in Christmas lights.

Having a bubble bath with a mermaid.

Gathered all the dolls and stuffed animals together for a farewell party...or something.

They only accidentally touched him twice, and so he had to stay in a "sick bed" for an extra day until Santa brought medicine to sprinkle on him to give him his magic back. He moved every night of December and was a total blast. One picture I don't have is when he put the star on top of our tree and sat up there until the girls found him. Another funny one was when he was hanging from a vent in the ceiling. (Annie confided in me that she asked him to do something from the ceiling. He totally listened.)

By Christmas, Kalia had cried several times at the thought of losing her precious Charming (that's what they named him.) So Charming, who didn't want to leave either, got special permission from Santa to stay through January, AND the girls were given permission to play with him and hold him and touch him for the month, as long as they understood that he wouldn't be coming alive and moving around every night if he was being held and touched. This has been a good plan and helped them get over the "realness" of this little elf, to help transition him out of our house until next year.