The Elves have landed…

Well, we officially kicked off Christmas at The Stickles’ House Sunday morning. Our elves have come to play!!! I set up a North Pole breakfast (from the elves, of course!) and Pep, Ginger, and Jingle made their debut. Now, our elves aren’t like the traditional Elf On The Shelf. To be honest, the whole “don’t touch the elf.. it just sits and stares” thing, kind of freaks me out! SO, we have the “plushies” and we are able to love on our elves, sleep with them, cuddle with them, take them every where we go, and just generally become best friends with our elves. We get to show them how nice, well-mannered, loving children that we have in our house! ;) Besides, I want my children to remember this as something magical.. not just something that sat on a shelf and watched them. I want them to become friends with their elf and cherish this time! So, we forgo the whole story and shebang. Our elves write us letters and become part of our family. If you remember, last year I made their elf. Which was precious. But, this year I wanted them to each have their own.. and I wasn’t about to sew two more! So, I gave in and bought the EOTS. (I know.. I know..) So, our old elf “Jolly” left the notes to the kids that he was “handling reindeer business” and sent down these three newbies to watch over them. I was afraid that they’d start asking questions, but they never did! (whew!) They were just so excited to have their new friends!!

Unfortunately, Chris is out of town for work again, so he wasn’t able to join in on the fun! :( I am lucky to have my mom and Grams though!! They came over Sat night to help me get my supplies ready. Mom sat with the kiddos while Grams and I ran to a few stores. I have to say that the elves did a fantastic job!!!

      

North Pole Breakfast 2012

Muffins, Cinnamon Rolls, Fruit, and Donuts.. all the sugar they could handle! ;)

Notes for each child! Ethan’s elf – Peppermint Frost (Pep!)

Gray’s elf – Jingle Jolly

LK’s elf – Gingerbread Sprinkle (Ginger!)

Elves love candy!!

Wouldn’t you know… I got up at FIVE am to get the food out b/c I just knew that they’d be up early and I wanted it all ready. Of course, they slept till 7!! And when they did get up.. they walked RIGHT PAST the set up and plopped on the couch!!!! I’m the one who had to bring it to their attention!!! Go figure! When they did see it though, they were all smiles!!

First spotting!

      

SOOOO excited!!!! (and please pay no mind to the ironing board and sewing supplies in the background! I have a ridiculous amount of embroidery projects to get completed and honestly, my entire table was COVERED in this mess up until I set this breakfast stuff up! ha!)

      

Gray wasn’t too sure about this little creature at first!

LK reading her note! Jolly told her that Ginger is a sassy little thing! ;)

       

G was more interested in donuts and peeps!

He eventually warmed up to Jingle (probably when he figured out that Jingle wasn’t going to steal his sweets!) and gave him lots of love!

The elves even found the Christmas PJs in the laundry room and set them out! Those elves…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kid eat so much.. and he eats A LOT! He was cramming donuts and cin rolls one right after the other into his mouth! He was in HEAVEN!! I hope he doesn’t start to think that all breakfasts are like this! ha!

They immediately called Daddy to tell him their exciting news!!!

    

Snowman cookies!!!! (Thank you, sweet girl at Starbucks – they were sold out for the day but she went and got some from the freezer for me!!)

See.. now there’s lots of love!!

The best pic I could get of the three!

Of course, Sunday night, the new Christmas PJs were a MUST! They looked PRECIOUS!! I am SO glad that I ordered the blanks back in September! I just monogrammed the initials on them a few nights before. I am SO happy with them! I ordered a size bigger too so hopefully we can get two years out of them.

I tried to get a few pics in front of the tree…

My sweet, sweet boys!

Apparently, pics of the 3 of them together just aren’t possible anymore! Oh well.. memories!

Much better!!!

  

Love my sweet babies!

      

E wanted a pic with Huck.. this was the best we got! ;)

      

Already cuddling with their friends. They are not put them down once! Ethan even took his to school today for nap time. I am so so happy that they have really taken to this precious tradition. Growing up, Christmas was always so magical for me and I’m so glad to keep that magic around for them! :)