Elf’n Around :: I’m Having a Blast with Our Elf on the Shelf
I may have a different feeling about this in the future, or I may not, but I must say; I’m having fun with our Elf on the Shelf.
In 2022, I Introduced our elf Periwinkles, who my daughter decided to name. Because, this was my first time, and I’m an overthinker, I started slow. By slow, I mean I brought her out at the 14-day mark instead of the full 24 days. Of course, me being me (not the planning type), I just went with it and came up with ideas I found online after my daughter went to sleep. I’ll be honest, that was pretty stressful, but I learned, and the next year I somewhat planned what I wanted to do. It was better and my daughter loved waking up and seeing all the fun surprises that Periwinkles did when she came back from the North Pole. She even talked to Santa about it when she took pictures with him that year.
Better with time
This year has gotten way better. I decided to start on Dec 1st, as I was prepped with ideas to make this year better than before. I came across many Facebook pages that share fun, clever, and age-appropriate, ideas that everyone will love. I’ve also learned that it’ll make things easier to preplan what the Elf will do and what props will already be available. This will cause less stress or even forgetting to move them when everyone is asleep. I know I had my fair share of forgetting to move the Elf and having to jump up at 5 am to come up with something. I didn’t have a calendar written out on what I should do. I saw this in most of the Elf on the Shelf groups. That is a goal for next year. But I wrote a list of ideas I wanted to do for my Elf.
Years to come
Will I start planning for next year? Nope, I’m not that person. However, that’s a goal for next year to have things ready a few weeks before the 1st of the month. There are so many ideas out there that you can use. Now that I am more comfortable with finding new and fun ways to stage the Elf, I think it would be easier to plan and write out what to do. That is what makes it so fun. The best part is seeing my daughter wake up in the mornings looking for Periwinkles.
To the mom who wants to be “that” elf on the shelf mom, I say, just do it. It’s so fun and it brings out so much creativity and imagination not only for you but for your kids. They will love it. I didn’t even know about Elf on the Shelf growing up. I only heard about it once I became a mom, and I enjoy doing it. It brings the magic of Christmas to life and it also helps heal my inner child.
Are you a mom who doesn’t enjoy Elf on the Shelf? Or are you the mom who is all in? Let me know in the comments.