Elf on the Shelf & other Christmas fun

Have you heard of Elf on the Shelf?  I think the basic idea is that Santa sends an elf to your house.  This elf does silly (and sometimes naughty) things at your house while you're sleeping, such as toilet-papering your tree or maybe making a "snow" angel in flour/sugar.  The elf also visits Santa at night to tell him if the kids are being good or not.  I just didn't really like that idea for a few reasons.  For one thing, some of the "elf ideas" would make a huge mess that I would just have to clean up later.  Second, I teach my kids not to tattle - but the elf gets to do that every night?  Plus, on top of tattling, the elf gets to be naughty without any consequences.  So, I tried to find a way to combine Santa & Christ with our elf.  Last year, he did a few silly things and we were supposed to help "teach" him to be a good elf.  This year, I thought I would combine our elf (Elvin) with the scripture advent calendar Heidi gave us last year.  Elvin visits Santa each night and Santa sends him back with a scripture and activity for us to do.  This way, we can have some fun but still keep the focus on Christ.  Elvin is always found in a new place and the kids do love looking for him.  I think I've got an even better idea for next year, but you'll just have to wait for that!

The first night when Elvin came back, Santa suggested we go see the lights, so we headed to Thanksgiving Point.  We had a few pairs of holographic glasses from last year, which make the lights look like little snowflakes.

Some activities our elf has suggested: make paper stars (after reading scriptures about the star that appeared with Jesus' birth), watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional, hug everyone in your family, write your testimony of Christ, wrap Christmas presents, donate mop & bucket to the ward for our ward project, and more.  Each activity comes with a related scripture :)

We also had the Andrews family Christmas party.  They played "what's that great-grandkid's name" which most of us failed, and bingo.  The night ended with everyone getting a candy cane from Grandpa & Grandma Ruth.

 Ruth isn't a huge fan of the dark.  As in, she tells me "I can't sleep, I'm scared of the dark..."  She already has a nightlight, but it doesn't cut it for her.  I bought a glass block and a strand of white Christmas lights from Hobby Lobby.  I sprayed the front and back with frosted glass paint and cut out a Minnie head out of vinyl.  Add a bow, and you have a Minnie night light.  Ruth loves it.

This is how my boys usually fall asleep.  Tristan will have a comic book open on his pillow and a lot of the time, he's hanging off the side of his bed.  Ben has gotten better about turning off his lamp and taking off his glasses, but he still forgets sometimes too.