Elf on the Shelf

So for those of you who don't know this is becoming a pretty popular Christmas tradition.  It is a book and a toy that go together.  The story is that Santa sends the elf to keep an eye on the kids to see if they are naughty or nice.  He goes back to the north pole every night and reports back to Santa. Then on Christmas Eve he goes back to the North Pole with Santa and will come again the next holiday season.  The one catch is that the elf is naughty some times.

Now I like to mesh together some of the fun parts of the holidays and also the Christian side of it.  I love all the fun stuff but I also want my kids to learn what the true meaning for these holidays are.  I think it's the best way for our family to make our own traditions.  So I saw an idea from another person on Pinterest.  So I tweaked it a bit.

Santa wrote Leyton a letter telling him about how God loves us whether we are naughty or nice but that it makes him happy when we are nice.  It also told him that he had been trying to teach the elf that but thought it would be better to send him to Leyton and have Leyton try to help show him that that is true.  It said to keep an eye on him and to remind him that no matter what we do God loves us but to try to help him remember to be nice. 

The elf and the letter along with an "elf breakfast" and a special little present was waiting for him when he woke up on Dec. 1st.  The breakfast was everything sugar...red and green pancakes, sugar donuts, oreos, Hershey kisses, marshmallows, hot chocolate, and milk with candy canes in it.  The gift was a new Christmas water bottle, coloring book, and socks.

He was so excited.  We sat and ate with him and Daddy read the Elf on the Shelf book.  He learned in the book that he gets to name the elf so he decided on Candy Cane.  And thus began our elf on the shelf tradition.  Every morning when he woke up Leyton would find Candy Cane and see what kind of trouble he had gotten into.  And it was a lot!!!

Christmas Eve came and Leyton was very sad to see Candy Cane go.  He set him by Santa's milk and cookies and gave him a kiss and had a little chat with him.  It was very sad but I am so excited for Candy Cane to come again next year!!!