Elf on the Shelf

Having realised that you can have a frugal version of Elf on the Shelf,  I decided about a month ago to give it a go this year.

It was only a few days ago though that I suddenly had a thought, that we may only have a couple of years left of him believing in Father C, and this made me a little sad, as for the last 16 years we have had the magic of Santa in our homes at Christmas.

So, will make the very most of making these next few years very magical.

Back to the Elf.  The Elf on the Shelf is a children's book explaining the story of Santa's scout elves who are sent to be Santa's eyes and ears at children's homes around the world. The original book and Elf are around £30 on Amazon but you can buy the  DVD from Argos at £2.99 (p&p inc) and I  found a cuddly Elf for £1.99 at the Card Factory.

So basically, this little Elf who I have called Elfie, is supposed to arrive with a letter from Mr C. There are lots of different versions according  to Pinterest, but I like this one:

I hope you are  excited that Christmas is almost here!

As you know, this is my busiest time of the year as I'm here in the North Pole finishing off all of the toys for the boys and girls around the world.  Because you have  been good so far this year, I’ve have sprinkled magic dust on your little Elf which will last until Christmas Eve/

Elfie is going to watch over you and let me know if you’re being naughty or nice so I want you to be on your best behaviour.  As long as you continue to be good then I will be delivering you some lovely presents ready for you to open on Christmas morning.

I must tell you this though, Elfie may be a little bit cheeky and he might get up to a little mischief while he’s staying with you.  He might to play hide and seek and may  find new places to hide and new messes to make so I hope you enjoy looking for him every day and tidying up the mess he might make!

Please leave him on your Christmas tree before you go to bed on Christmas Eve and I’ll take him back to the North Pole with me until next year when he’ll be back to stay with you again – if you’ll have him!

Lots of Love,

Santa

Now I have changed the original letter around and made up the bit about the magic dust. The normal Elf procedure is for him to "arrive" with the letter from Santa, bus as J was with me when I bought the Elf  I decided to go with the whole magic dust thing.

So from the 1st of December for  24 days M and I will have to hide Elfie in different places and also stage his mishaps and naughty antics.  Lots of ideas again on Pinterest, and here are a few of my favs: (the original Elf is more bendy than the cuddly one I have bought, so is less adaptable in certain situations)

I like this idea of preparing a real sugary breakfast of donuts and cupcakes with Christmas crockery and napkins

Other ideas:-
Elf sat in action man car
Sat in a toy digger
With his head in a bag on sweets
Listening to an iPod
On the laptop
Hiding in a glass or jar
Sat in a Lego made chair
Playing cards
Hiding in a pair of shoes or wellies
Playing the keyboard (or other musical instrument)
In the fridge with a blanket around him
Sat next to a family photo - with fake moustaches on the faces
For Christmas Eve, sat looking or in if you have a big enough set, a Nativity Scene.

(that's 24 ideas)

You can also get the printable cards here

Its Christmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssss!!!!!

 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas xxxxx

Only two more sleeps.....

Christmas Eve tomorrow and I am still being very grown up and not getting over excited.

I have three more presents to wrap, and they are "Santa" presents, which have to be wrapped in different wrapping paper.  When B was younger, she wondered why Santa used the same wrapping paper as us, so as she was always so quizzical we made sure that "his" presents were wrapped in different paper.  One year she also questioned why the sweets in the stocking were the same as the ones we had in our house, so we also had to get different sweets and chocolates for the stockings too.

As J is of the same nature as B, we thought we had better be safe than sorry.

We are trying to keep things fairly simple for J, so he doesn't get too over excited and have a meltdown, and it is actually very tiring, as the world around us is going crazy for Christmas.  So we are baking, watching films and staying in the warm as the weather is rather rough at the moment.

So our weekend consisted of Christmas visiting, starting with my nieces and nephew at M's parents and catching up with his younger siblings, which was nice.

In the afternoon he had great fun with his Dad making lego for most of the afternoon, and I was quite impressed with my husbands lego making skills

Air Craft Carrier

Yesterday we visited the Christmas Farmers Market, didn't buy anything, just tasted and listened to the band playing Christmas Carols

We also had a mini Christmas celebration this weekend, as my sister and her partner were visiting  from the North (of England, not Pole).  We went over for Christmas Tea yesterday, and opening of presents, where I received two books and a hot chocolate mug set.  J was very pleased with his tool bench

Had lots of fun with Jesse the dog

and just loved helping his Ampy with the real fire

Today we have made Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate Bark, Chocolate Snowballs and B has made some more mince pies.


Tomorrow, staying in probably, as the weather, as Dean Martin sings, outside is frightful and my fire is definitely delightful.

Christmas Home Ed Party and Christmas Baking

On Wednesday this week we braved the rain and winds to attend our local HE Group Christmas Party.

In Christmas's past, these parties were usually organised on a big scale, with Christmas Presents under the tree, parents dressed as Christmas Elves and Fairies, Lantern Walks, organised Carol Singing and even one year a paid children's entertainer.  Also weeks before,  the preparation for the party included making Crackers, hats, lanterns and decorations.  Usually there were about 50 children, in a quite small space.

This year, due to lots of parents branching out and setting up other groups, and our own little group no longer being the one and only group in our City, there were 9 families, with three visitors whose children have now gone onto College, and  who ran the group in its earlier days.

But despite it being low key, and the weather being so very bad that no one could venture outside, it was still a great party, with enough food, lots of Christmas craft activities and musical games.  Also one parent brought in a flask of hot rum spiced with apple and cinnamon, it was delicious.

Back home in the warm, we have been Christmas baking

B made mince pies, shortbread and chocolate chip cookies

J and I put the marzipan on the Christmas cake we had made

M and J made a Gingerbread House

Today, more baking, Banbury Cakes, Cinnamon Cookies, White and Milk Chocolate Bark with Sprinkles and icing and decorating the Christmas Cake.

Christmas Holidays

Friday was the last day of "term" for our family, with a typical end of term week, where a lot of things started to slack as we are all getting into the festive mood.

This week we went into the HE Group to make lots of different Christmas decorations, and the weather was very mild so we spent a lot of the time outside in the park enjoying the sunshine.

J has been occupying himself with plain paper and felt tips.  He drew a great picture of a Doctor Who scene, with Dr Who himself, the Tardis and  Slavenes

He also made Cookie decorations for the tree, whilst wearing his Rudolph glasses

Also had fun climbing trees

We have now reached day 16 of our Book Advent Countdown, this week we have read:-

As we are currently watching The Polar Express, this book will be next on the list to be opened.

On Saturday we went into our nearest City to get the remaining presents.  It did get  bit hectic towards lunchtime, and M ended up going back to the car with J as it got a bit too much, but in the end we got all the presents sorted, bar one  (my Mother of course).  So one more to get!

On Sunday it was up early for an extra early KO for an away game, where it rained continuously, and our team won.

We met up in the evening with the other players and their families for a Christmas Meal which was very enjoyable and all the kids looked like they had a great time.

Today - bit of a stay at home and wash a load of muddy clothes type of day.  J hasn't even changed out of his PJ's.  We did manage to get the food cupboards ready for our Christmas food shop which will be arriving on Thursday.

Tomorrow, present wrapping, card posting and Christmas baking.

Christmas Decorating and Craft

So we didn't put the decorations up today as planned, we were a bit impatient and went out and got the tree on Monday

We haven't  put the ceiling decorations up yet, and of course the fake snow, but hopefully we will be doing that tomorrow afternoon.

The Christmas Art and Craft table was set up during the week, and consequently there is glitter everywhere!

J has been painting winter scenes from his Usborne 100 Christmas things to do 

We went to the HE Group this week too, more Christmas crafts going on, followed by a visit to the Scrapstore to get more materials for the craft table.

He has also made a start on the Christmas packs I printed out, which includes colouring, counting, writing, sequencing and puzzles.

We are now on Day 7 of our Advent book Surprise. today it was

J had never heard about Charlie Brown before, so it took him a while to get into this book, but he did like the little props that went with it - the blanket, tree and bauble.  Afterwards I played him a Christmas special on You tube, which he enjoyed, and both M and I had forgotten just how funny the series used to be.

He is really enjoying the Advent book surprise, more than the chocolate calendar and the treats.

So far this week he has opened:-

So here at our house, we are definitely getting into the Festive Season :-)