I resisted with my whole being but I was sucked in. All those cute Facebook posts and Pinterest pics . . . or more accurately Facebook posts with ideas lifted from Pinterest. They swayed me. Going into it, I had two large reservations.
1. How on earth was I going to remember to have Elf do something cute and oh-so-silly every night? I can barely remember to make their lunches or check their backpacks or any number of other important mommy jobs.
2. The purpose of the Elf is to report behavior back to Santa. Well, I might as well cancel Christmas then. I am not a fan of things that show my kids I'm a liar. While we have always had fun with the whole Santa thing, I have never tied it to good behavior. Santa brings us presents to celebrate Jesus's birthday. I didn't want to back myself into a corner.
I was going to be the FUN MOMMY! Well, the fun cheap mommy. No freakin' way I was going to fork over $30 for a creepy plastic elf. We took a cute little snowman ornament and created "Mr Snowman". Don't judge. I was a Poli Sci major, not a Creative Writing major. They are lucky I didn't name the dude Spiro Agnew. I explained how this shtick would work . . . Mr Snowman would go back to the North Pole at night and tell Santa all the dirt. That didn't sit well with Amelia AT ALL. She is no dummy.
So Day #1. We find Mr Snowman with his nose in the ice cream. Silly Mr Snowman. We all ate breakfast with the best manners ever. Hhhhmmmm . . . . maybe there was something to this. I am not above child manipulation.
Day #2. Mr Snowman is playing with Wyatt's cars when we wake up. Screaming ensues. "MY CARS!!!" Mr Snowman goes flying and leaves a lovely mark on the wall while Wyatt sobs "I don't want to share my cars!!!"
Well, that scared Mr Snowman. He is now living in the liquor cabinet until I can figure out what to do. Maybe he'll make me a martini.
1. How on earth was I going to remember to have Elf do something cute and oh-so-silly every night? I can barely remember to make their lunches or check their backpacks or any number of other important mommy jobs.
2. The purpose of the Elf is to report behavior back to Santa. Well, I might as well cancel Christmas then. I am not a fan of things that show my kids I'm a liar. While we have always had fun with the whole Santa thing, I have never tied it to good behavior. Santa brings us presents to celebrate Jesus's birthday. I didn't want to back myself into a corner.
I was going to be the FUN MOMMY! Well, the fun cheap mommy. No freakin' way I was going to fork over $30 for a creepy plastic elf. We took a cute little snowman ornament and created "Mr Snowman". Don't judge. I was a Poli Sci major, not a Creative Writing major. They are lucky I didn't name the dude Spiro Agnew. I explained how this shtick would work . . . Mr Snowman would go back to the North Pole at night and tell Santa all the dirt. That didn't sit well with Amelia AT ALL. She is no dummy.
So Day #1. We find Mr Snowman with his nose in the ice cream. Silly Mr Snowman. We all ate breakfast with the best manners ever. Hhhhmmmm . . . . maybe there was something to this. I am not above child manipulation.
Day #2. Mr Snowman is playing with Wyatt's cars when we wake up. Screaming ensues. "MY CARS!!!" Mr Snowman goes flying and leaves a lovely mark on the wall while Wyatt sobs "I don't want to share my cars!!!"
Well, that scared Mr Snowman. He is now living in the liquor cabinet until I can figure out what to do. Maybe he'll make me a martini.
7 comments:
love it!! I'd like a martini too. xoxo
Love it!!! You are so great!!
I take slight offense to "...or more accurately Facebook posts with ideas lifted from Pinterest..." I call that inspiration...isn't that what Pinterest is all about? ;-)
Our "Elfie" was a gift two years ago...don't think I would have spent the $30 either. I may "lift" your martini making elf idea - I think that may be the way our Elfie goes out...after all, I think I've earned a martini or two for putting up with Elfie.
Kim, I should have been more clear on that. I have no problem with using Pinterest for inspiration and ideas. . . I do it all the time! What bugs me is the few people I have seen that try to pass off ideas as their own when I know they came from Pinterest. It's not just with the Elf. I have seen it all over.
I think the Elf is a cute idea. That's why I tried to make it work for us! This was just my story about how it was an epic fail at my house.
i hear ya - i see it all the time too - but i am a total pinterest addict! I was really joking by saying i take slight offense...
i totally set myself up each year for failure...although this year has been fun because we moved during the holidays and it gave aidan some comfort when he got to the new house and saw that elfie was here too...
Laughing so hard I'm snorting! Great story! Spiro Agnew? Really?
LOL! Love this. As you saw on FB, I haven't given in yet either. I have enough real-life little people to take care of around here. ;)
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