Wrapping Up December + Elf on the Shelf Mishap

Probably the coolest hairdo I have ever done on Eva!

Eva wrote this letter with the help of her babysitter on night. Needless to say, we have addressed all of the issues this note presented and we have made the proper revisions. I’m pretty sure our babysitter added that last sentence as a hint to someone other than Santa.

Finn wouldn’t have anything to do with Santa this year. “I scared Santa,” he keeps telling me. I’m pretty sure he means, I’m scare OF Santa. I persuaded Eva into thinking she wants a karaoke machine and a mermaid tail instead of all the other insane things listed above.

One night, we drove around Lehi to see all the lights in the neighborhoods. It was so fun! We brought popcorn, sang songs, and only yelled at the kids for being crazy 50% of the time! At one point TJ actually said, “OKAY, NO MORE QUESTIONS!” Eva replied, “Should we play the quiet game?” haha! 

We had TJ’s old buddies from high school and their families over for Family Home Evening to make gingerbread houses. I was proud of my royal icing that actually worked this year! I had a surprising amount of fun building this house!

We attended a surprise party for our friend in the neighborhood. This family has been some of our closest friends in the ward and they always know how to throw a good party… this time was no exception! There was a DJ and a photobooth!

In addition to mailing out our Christmas cards, I assembled and mailed out my sister’s Christmas cards who lives out of the country. One night, TJ worked really late, so I turned on a Christmas movie and made an evening out of it! 

We ended up doing Elf on the Shelf this year… but it was kind of by accident? It was such a strange situation. I had considered doing it, but then I was too cheap to buy the elf so I thought I’d just not to it after all. Well, rewind one year to when I bought these two plush elves with my kids’ names on them which I had prepared to put in their stockings. Unfortunately, I hid it so well I forgot to put them in the stockings and didn’t see it until about November of 2017, so I decided to use them for this year’s stockings. I was cleaning out that shelf again in December and Eva happened to see it, of course, and asked me what they were. I was thrown off guard and literally had no idea what to say. I ended up, foolishly, saying, “Ohhhhh uhhhh I think those are elves on the shelves?” She told me they weren’t because they clearly didn’t look like the originals. So, I was at a loss, and thought maybe I’d just give them to my kids instead on Christmas. BUT THEN (this story is so long, sorry!) one day, wouldn’t you know it, Eva got them down from the shelf and decided that they actually WERE Elves on the Shelves and that they WERE magical…. So, I was forced into doing Elf on the Shelf after all. So here we are. It hasn’t been too bad though. We have kept it really simple, just moved it a bit every day and then occasionally will have the elves bring a book or treat. De