some of the above ideas are from pinterest (syrup,snow angel)
meet turtle the elf. we bought turtle...um ahem...i mean turtle came to us??...when harper was one.
we found turtle at a junior league event in tyler texas. it was a random very small booth and kind of a weird looking elf, but we thought it would be a fun tradition for our family to hide him every day and have harper look for him.
at that time we certainly didn't know we'd have four kiddos. haah!
we read the book to miss h and she promptly named him "turtle". or TUTTLE!!! this was her favorite word at one and a half.
here's harper looking for turtle the first christmas we started the tradition:
how cute was she? and how heavily was i breathing? hahah! can you tell i was big time pregnant with miss sadie? :)
turtle is a tradition that our family has so enjoyed over the years.
i've seen a lot of weird comments re: elf on a shelf on the internet lately.
things like:
people that do it are lame !??!
people that don't do it aren't creating a fun childhood for their children ?!?!?!
people that do it need to get a life
it's stupid to get creative with your elf
why is the elf being naughty if he is supposed to be used to make your children behave
if i use this elf it's defeating the true purpose of christmas.(this one? i don't get AT ALL. I'm pretty sure i'm not telling them to worship turtle)
the elf is too popular right now, why would you want to do it
your children are missing out on something if you don't do this.
here are my thoughts on the subject. and btw, who know an elf could be so controversial??? i've never seen such a thing!
DO WHATEVER MAKES YOUR FAMILY HAPPY.
if the elf creeps you out (he is kind of creepy) and you don't want one, go for it.
if you want to put your elf in intricate settings, go for it. if you want to forget to move him and make up strange stories about a snowstorm making it impossible for him to get back to the north pole (i may have done this) then go for it.
if your baby (lucy??) eats his hat and you have to let the babysitter move him for his safety, go for it.
it's just a fun tradition for us. we don't use it to threaten, we don't use it for behavior. that wouldn't work here anyway.
but...sometimes if the girls are throwing fits and being ridiculous they will look at turtle and get embarrased that he's watching. HEEEE!
it has turn into a competition of sorts between jimmy+stephanie to see who can put him in the funniest place.
last year j put him in the oven, staring out the door in a creepy way. it FREAKED the girls out. it made me VERY HAPPY b/c i didn't have to cook! haaaaaaaa!
exhibit a:
i may or may not have had a nightmare starring turtle that night.
the girls wake up wanting to look for him every single day.
gosh, this post is rambling and random.
i just think the elf is fun. and i don't think my kids are going to know that the internet was saturated with him in 2011.
just like they won't know that butterflies and doilies were the big trend in scrapbooking, and that everyone used them on their pages just like i do.
just like they won't know that i don't use visual triangles and design principles when scrapbooking.
just like they wouldn't know if we DIDN'T have him.
they don't care. they just want to have fun. and the elf brings joy to our home.
bottom line. :)
hope today is joyful for YOU.
xoxo
s
