My oldest son told me tonight that  “Im a Santa and I am in charge of Christmas! T-Rex the elf told me I’m the king of Christmas and I need you to take me to my workshop!” Bahahaha 

If you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years here is the deal. Elf on the Shelf is “a fun-filled Christmas tradition that’s captured the hearts of children everywhere who welcome home one of Santa’s scout elves each holiday season. The elves are magical helpers that help Santa Claus manage his naughty and nice lists by reporting back to him at the North Pole nightly,” according to http://www.elfontheshelf.com.  

Basically it is a wonderful tool to help keep your kid from whining and being a brat at Christmas time.  

Like many first time parents I was so excited to purchase this HOT item for our little guy. He was not quite 2 but I still insisted that we NEEDED an Elf, even though he could have cared less. We drove out to our friend’s pharmacy where they have a cute little gift shop. Of course little man is all over the toys, trains, puzzles and is having a total melt down that he can’t have a toy. So I just grabbed an Elf off the big display table, checkout with the screaming toddler and get the hell out of there.

When we got home I was so excited to get it out and learn more about our new little friend. Again this Elf was more for me than for our son LOL. As I read more about it there are several different elves, boy and girl elves, light skinned, dark skinned, blonde, red, brown and black hair, with blue or brown eyes. I thought that is awesome there are multiracial elves for all kids. As I opened the box I noticed the one I grabbed in a tizzy was pretty tan and had black hair. We are a blonde haired, blue eyed, white family so we adopted an African American Elf. My husband and I thought it was pretty hilarious so we named him Kanye. (Disclaimer: This is not racist, just a true story and if it offends you then don’t read my blog)

Fast forward to present day, our first son is almost 4 and the baby is 15 months. My husband invited the Elf back a little early this year because he was spotted when he was cleaning out the garage. He has a new name T-Rex the Elf. We read him the book and explained all the rules. He is a BIG deal now and more of a pain for me (oh the irony.) So like a lot of moms I started looking up cute ideas for our Elf on Pinterest. I pinned a few, like having the elf taking a bubble bath in the sink filled with cotton balls, and a printable Captain America mask and shield that fits the elf. Yesterday I was looking at my holiday Pinterest board not paying attention and my son points at the screen and says “Mommy look at that. Oh man, that is a Captain America Elf, like me! We have to get him!” Dammit. Pinterest Fail!

Also another thing many parents can relate to is the lack of Christmas decorations that survive toddlers. We can only decorate the top half of our tree because the baby has shattered 3 ornaments already. Anyway Daddy had placed T-Rex on a branch on the Christmas tree and I had forgotten all about it. I was fluffing the branches out to finish decorating the tree and our son screams “Mommy!!! T-Rex fell! He is supposed to fly. Mommy he lost his powers. Do NOT touch him!” PANIC!  I said “Oh NO I am so sorry. It is ok. I won’t touch him. We will get some tongs and put him back in the tree. It’s ok baby.” He is crying at this point. SHIT! I got some salad tongs and pick him up and shove him into the tree. “His hat! He lost his hat!” he says. “Ok he will fix his hat tonight at Santa’s workshop,” then I turned on Paw Patrol and all was right with the world.

I love having T-Rex the Elf at our house because he has the perfect leverage to get our boys to behave. Threaten Christmas and being on the naughty list he almost immediately apologizes and straightens up.  But oh how the tables have turned, now if I cuss or get frustrated (all the time) he tells me “Mommy T-Rex is watching you, you are going to be on the naughty list.” Cheers to our special Elf visitors, mommy being on the naughty list and all the Amazon boxes arriving this month! XOXO