"Chad" the Christmas Elf...

I don't know if you have ever heard of the book The Elf on the Shelf or not, but it's a very sweet book that tells the story about how Santa delivers an elf around Thanksgiving to watch over your child. Each night the elf then leaves to deliver a report back to Santa during the night and returns to a new location in the house to surprise your child the following morning. He goes back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve to be re-delivered the following year.

Natalie's elf is named "Chad". Last year, Chad would watch over our household each day and during the night, report back to Santa and let him know the goings on in Natalie's day. When he would "return", he would not only be in a different location in the house but typically had wreaked some sort of havoc somewhere in the house. One night, he had gotten in the bird cage with our bird Tiki who was NOT impressed with his presence. Another, he took Natalie's bookbag from the wall and dumped all the contents in the middle of the hallway and danced on top of them and fell asleep where she was rather angry to find him the next morning! He nibbled at the edges of Christmas cookies we baked and passed out face down amongst the crumbs after eating too much, snuggled up next to her on her pillow, hid in the Christmas tree, hung from the ceiling fan, and slept on the mantle at times when he was too tired to cause mischief.

So, now that you get the idea…the neatest thing happened last night. Natalie and I were unpacking the boxes of Christmas decorations and ornaments, etc. to put on the tree together and she was asking me, as she does each year, the significance of each ornament and the who and where it came from. …her first ornament given to her by her Aunt Hilda, my first ornament, a clip on bird my dad made in school in 1960, the lighthouses that Keith and the boys have given me, my strange affection for Donald Duck and the Grinch ornaments and why I have so many, etc. when she came across one old, faded, and dingy ornament that I honestly do not recall noticing before. I have quite a few ornaments from when my dad was a little boy and apparently, this one was from 1964 which would have made my dad 10 years old. The ornament is a small elf that is holding his feet, just like Chad…wearing a little red suit, just like Chad…etc. …only this elf is smaller. Natalie was beside herself with excitement when she pulled it from the box. She said "Mommy, Grampy must have had an elf, too, and here is what he looked like!" She had to find a special spot on the tree to hang him and made sure he was nowhere that the dog could knock him off. She then proceeded to get Chad (her elf) and bring him to introduce him to Grampy's elf on the tree and tell this elf not to get any ideas of causing trouble because she couldn't handle the trouble of TWO ELVES and Chad creates enough of his own….as she was bossily wagging her finger at them both as only a little girl can do!

I'm including a picture of "Chad" the elf and also my dad's ornament that we found so you can see.

"Chad"...

My dad's elf...

Finding it made me really feel like my dad was watching over us last night. It was nice to feel him and have him be a part of the holiday in such a special way.

I know to most this would sound like a really wacky story and I do tend to be a bit of a whack-a-doo about holidays and making them fun and special, but it warms my heart to know that Natalie truly believes in the spirit of Christmas and all the fun that goes along with it. I hope we continue some of these traditions even when she no longer truly believes in Santa Claus and just have fun remembering the past together as she gets older. I think her stumbling across my dad's ornament from when he was little just reinforced the "belief" in her mind which I absolutely love. I don't know how many more years of Santa Claus we will have since she's 7 1/2 but I'll keep it going as long as she believes. Besides, my mom always told me that Santa will come as long as you truly believe in your heart…… She was right!

I wonder what Chad will get into tonight when he returns?!?

Feel free to share any "elf" stories or Christmas traditions you might have...I'd love to hear them.