December Review

December has come & (almost) gone and it was a busy ride. It always amazes me just how much stuff we can cram into those short days. There were school concerts and parties. Afternoons for baking one too many batches of cookies. Late nights of wrapping and staring at the lights on the tree. There were moments of magic watching Anna's eyes light up. There were moments of complete quiet and lounging after all the hustle & bustle of opening gifts and eating had ended.  And then again there was more eating. There was movie marathons, outdoor holiday festivities, 2 hour waits to see Santa and Christmas Bureau deliveries. There was contest winning and lots of squealing. We chased Sun Dogs and waited for the clouds to part trying to get a peek at the Christmas moon. We spent time with family and found moments where we knew Dad was there with us and it made my heart feel light.

December you were good to us, thank you.

Earl Is Back

I posted this to my other social media yesterday & thought it needed a post here too but with a little more depth. Christmas can be a tough time for many people, I know that first hand. Last year I didn't really participate here at home. I don't remember anything about decorating the tree. I pulled everything out this year and was flooded with images of me sitting like a zombie watching it all happen around me. I was so angry that everyone was just going about their business while my Dad had died and with him went a huge part of my Mom. This year I have been experiencing flashes of that and moments where I need to leave the room to collect myself. I love this time of year, I love the colors, the music, the smells but most important for me- I love the magic. I loved it before I had a child. Now it's even more important for me to share the magic, to help bring it to life. To build traditions in our family that she will one day, maybe, share with her family. One day she will get to spread the magic. How amazing is that! 

One of those traditions in our family is The Elf on the Shelf. I happen to have bought the trademarked elf but really... anything will do. 

Our elf is Earl and I am excited he's back.  I go on social media and see so many people complaining these past couple of weeks about their elf and it bums me out! They're complaining because they already feel overwhelmed by all the things their elf "needs to do". But the problem here isn't the elf, it's comparison. Stop comparing yourself to someone else. Stop setting sky high expectations about what your elf is suppose to do! The image above is the everyday here, Earl moves to a new spot each day and Anna wakes up all jazzed about where he is. She rushes about to find him and when she does she yells out the location in a voice that makes me so happy. I did my job, I spread a little magic. In our house this year Earl won't be set up in an elaborate snowball fight, or having a marshmallow roast. I might put him in the Barbie bathtub and fill it with chocolate so I can eat it throughout the day. That will be the extent of my  creativity, I have other things (like baking & scrapbooking) that I want to spend my time on. Anna doesn't care what he's doing, she just wants to find him. 

If I forgot to move him one day (and I will)- that's OK. That's life. I have already set this up by letting her know that sometimes Earl might not move because he fell asleep waiting for all of us to go to bed. Elves get tired too. 
Earl is here for the magic, he is a daily reminder to be kind & caring. He might even leave her a note if she or I have a tough day. She will get gifts from us & Santa even if she has a shit day. Because we all have shit days!
 Parents,this is not a contest. If you love to go all in- DO IT!!! I love it. But if you don't want to do that- DON'T!!!! I love that too! 
Let your elf be about the magic! 

We're all amazing parents- with or without the elf!