Jingles

Christmas is coming fast now and I want it to slow down!  I love the season of Christmas so much and there are so many wonderful things that we have been doing (and I have yet to post about!) but I find that I have lists upon lists, that I am staying up too late and getting up too early. 

 

Do more stuff you enjoy, live bigger and sleep less OR scale back, get more rest and be happy living a little less? 

 

Don't ask me. I clearly have no idea on this one.  It is a moment by moment question for me.

This Christmas we find ourselves with quite an active little Elf on our Shelf.  Except this guy isn't to be contained to any ordinary shelf. 

 

(For the uninitiated, the Elf on the Shelf is one of Santa's spies.  You adopt him -or her- and she returns to you every Christmas to watch over you and report back to Santa.  He's meant to sit on a shelf and be out of reach because kids cannot touch him or he might lose his magic. He flies to the North Pole every night and each morning is in a new spot for kids to find him.)

 

We have found him in all sorts of places doing all sorts of things in our house.  Meet Jingles.

 

 

One morning he was sitting in a circle of candy with the following note rolled in a scroll on his lap:

 

 

He has been king of the sledding hill.

He and Barbie even constructed a swing from our paddle fan.  When the fan was turned on they would swing fast in an outward circle like a carnival ride.  It was intense fun for the girls to turn the fan on and off.  They did need  a little assistance from Sandi to be sure they wouldn't fall off.

Our friend Matt thinks this looks like a hostage situation.  He wanted to check the cotton ball pillow for traces of chloroform.  Only Matt.  (I personally like the elf-sized eye mask.)


Fishing for Gold Fish.




On McKenna's gynmastics bar.  Poor guy.  Looks like he even sprained his ankle like McKenna.

And this inexplicable picture is just a bonus one for your enjoyment.  I found this note taped to one of our snowmen after my family was visiting.  It is Ella's writing and I'm guessing there is a good explanation but all I can think of is that she is expressing the pagan/Christian conflict about the meaning of Christmas.