Where's the Shelf Elf?!?

My manager turned me onto a holiday tradition in her brother's family and Joey's really had a lot of fun with it.

Every day when Joey wakes up, one of the first things he does is look for the Shelf Elf in the house.

What is Shelf Elf? He's the elf that watches over Joey during the day and then goes back to North Pole to report to Santa every night. So that means that Shelf Elf, who Joey named "Pinocchio", is in a different place in the house every morning. So far, he's been on the fireplace mantel, on window valences, on top of kitchen cabinets and in the dining room chandelier.

When Shelf Elf first arrived at the house, young Mr. Davis was very skeptical to say the least.

"Daddy, he's not real. He can't talk!" I told Joey that the elf may not be able to talk to us, but he can talk to Santa. The look on Joey's face told me he still didn't buy it.

Fast forward to the next morning and, lo and behold, the elf was in a different place!

"Mama, Daddy, look! He moved, he moved," Joey said. "It's magic!"

Needless to day, Joey loves trying to find the elf every morning ... it's like hide-and-seek.

I think my favorite thing about this and that it's never even occurred to Joey that Mama or Daddy might be moving the elf. As soon as he saw that the elf was in a different spot that first morning, he's totally bought into it.

Yet another reason why I love Christmas again ... just amazing and so much fun to see it again through Joey's eyes.