The magic of Christmas still is alive in our home. I am so thrilled to have one more year where my daughter believes in Santa and all of the magic that comes with the Jolly ole Elf. Like many of you we have adopted an Elf on the Shelf this year. The girls tore into our Elf’s box while I was at a photography meeting and decided to name him Elfward. I think the name came as a direct result of my 12 year old’s obsession with Twilight. I chuckled when they told me, it was pretty darn creative if you ask me. Elfward had had great fun in our home. Since our girls are older he tends to play some pranks on us when he returns each night from the North Pole.
Elfward had a blast doing a little graffiti on our family portrait.

Elfward also had fun playing Scrabble. The girls giggled when they saw that he was about to play “Bootyjuice”. That’s a family joke in our house. The girls will come in from out side and say “What’s for dinner?” and their dad will say “Bootyjuice!” or if I say “What is this mess on the floor?” the girls will reply “Bootyjuice!” We couldn’t believe Elfward knew our silly word!

One night Elfward took a zip-lining tour in Mimmie’s den.

One morning we woke to discover that Elfward had wrapped the powder room door. The girls noticed that Elfward writes some of his letters backwards. I wonder if he’s dyslexic like Clara because she did that for awhile.

Of course, after all of these shenanigans, Elfward was exhausted and needed a nap. The kleenex box was a great bed and a provided him with a blanket and pillow. No idea where that eye mask came from.

The girls had a few rough days. Elfward brought back a warning from Santa. Clara woke me up at 6 a.m. crying since Elfward told Santa they were bad. We re-read Elfward’s note again and realized it was just a warning. The girls agreed that they better straighten up and fly right so Elfward would only have good reports for Santa.

There is not much snow in Texas so imagine our surprise when Elfward snowflaked the dining room.

Can you go fishing for goldfish? Of course you can if you are one of Santa’s elf!

After our Christmas party Elfward left a magnetic decoration on the fridge.

And imagine the embarrassment suffered by Emmie to discover that Elfward had replaced the stockings with underwear. To add insult to injury he was hanging out in a pair of her bloomers. Too bad she couldn’t touch him (that would make him lose his magic!) to get her panties off of the entertainment center. 
After I spent the evening baking Elfward decided to make a flour angel. Once again…not much snow in Central Texas!

Elfward had a blast playing with the printer/copier/scanner. I wonder who taught the elves to copy their booty? Santa or Rudolph?

I stayed up late one night making cupcakes for Clara’s class party. When we woke up we discovered that Elfward helped himself to a cupcake and a coke.

When Elfward hid in the cabinet we almost didn’t find him.

When we got to my grandmother’s house in Houston Elfward dug out my old Lincoln Logs from the closet. We all got a good laugh at the retro can that was left behind his house.

Who knew they made Elf sized Twister boards?
Yesterday Elfward found my dreidel (a student gave it to me one year when I taught about Christmas around the world.) He sat with it all day as he watched the girls. Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends!

This morning we discovered Elfward in the remains of a Hershey Kisses bag. He must have had a tummy ache because he didn’t return to the shelf until after lunch.

We just have a few more days with Elfward. He will fly back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve.
For those of you who might have a twisted sense of humor I have an album on my personal Facebook page of Elfward’s alternative personality: Twisted Elfward. You will find some photos there of what Elfward does when the kids are at school.
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I love the Disney-reveal shot! It was so good to see you over the break, as well! Can’t wait to hear all about your trip!!