We Have an Elf On Our Shelf

The Elf on the Shelf has been a Tradition in our family for over 4 years.  My Mom gave us our Elf as a present. I don't 100% remember how she knew this person.  But she knew one of the authors and got us a signed copy, not that it meant anything at the time.  I think at the time the two authors had paid for the first printing and they were selling them at craft shows or something.  My mom would know.  Now they are a New York Times Best Seller at Christmas and have been  for the past several years.  Pretty cool, right?  My kids love this book and they LOVE their elf.  His name is Herman.  He Travels to the North Pole each night to tell Santa how well the kids behaved that day.  Herman comes back each morning and hides in a different spot and the kids get to find him!  We have our own little tradition with the book.  We all give Herman a kiss the first time we set him out to wake him up!  When he gets put away after Christmas we all kiss him to put him back to sleep.  Lilly swore that she felt him kiss her back.  She was soooooooo excited!!  As soon as he woke up and we put him out the kids ran and got their Christmas list to read to Herman, that way he could tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas!

I was telling a lady at church all about our elf the other day.  Apparently they have a simalar tradition with thier own elf (not the Elf on the Shelf).  But then she starts tearing up and crying because thier son turned 10 last year so they felt obligated to tell him that Santa wasn't real.  Needless to say, from what she was telling me, her son did not take it well.  And what he was most upset about was that thier family tradition of the elf wasn't magical anymore.  I could almost see her point.....she said that they decided that if they kept saying Santa was real then he would get confused becuase they also told him Jesus was real.  Apparently his childlike mind wouldn't be able to handle the complexity of the situation. Therefore it was better to destroy all the childhood magic in his life and ground him firmly in reality.......at the age of 10.  I am 32.  I'm still not grounded in reality.  Her mind might have said it was right, but the tears in her eyes (even a year later) obviously tell a different story. 

I am here today to say that Santa IS real!  Think about it.  A concept, an idea, and when we act upon that concept we keep it alive. (Seriously, have a little imagination people!!)  Every year my parent's insisted that Santa was real.  Even when I was a teenager I loved to hear my Mom and Dad tell us that Santa was real.  It became tradition in our family but it also helped teach me what Christmas was really about. And what's that you ask?  It's about family,traditions, being thoughtful to others, having fun, and most important of all, the Savior!