'if you believe in magic come along with me we'll dance until morning, just you and me'...

Do you all have special Christmas traditions in your family?  We are slowly building ours as our family has grown through the years.  We only just started doing anything related to Santa after Ava was born!  This is our first year doing "Elf on the Shelf".  I am a very imaginative person and like the "idea" of magic and the unknown.  Isaac and I both grew up not doing any sort of secular holiday traditions which was fine but now we are sort of living out our childhoods through our own children and having lots of fun with it!  Ethan is still skeptical about whether he believes in magic - he always questions me in whispers,  "Was it really you mom?"   When it all boils down to it, we tell our kids that Santa, and elves and Christmas magic are all only real "in our imaginations" and that it's okay to use our imaginations and play pretend.  We are very big in teaching our children the true Christmas story and about giving and thinking of others, not only during the holiday season but all throughout the year! They also know that it's not necessarily a big fat man, dresssed in red breaking into our home who brings them their presents - it's their parents and family who invest a lot of thought and love into the gifts they give. In the meantime, I truly enjoy "believing" in Christmas magic and reliving my childhood through the sparkle in my children's eyes!

You can follow along with our Elf's adventures, whom my children named Dash (even though I really thought he looked more like a "Fred"); I'll be doing weekly photo updates of his midnight adventures!

This is how Dash arrived at our house:

When I tried adjusting the basket for optimum photographing, Dash fell out and as Lulu picked him up, we all simultaneously shouted out because, you know, if you touch the elf, he might lose his magic!!  Thankfully, Lydia is so cute, I think Santa will forgive her of her innocent mistake.... He might not be so lenient for Ava though who was found coloring on the walls....AND the TV...AND the TV stand and remote control and floors...

Welcome to our home, Dash!  Hope you enjoy your stay...