The Return of Jingles

Our elf returned last night to spend the holidays with our family. The kids were elated to see Jingles waiting for them this morning, and promptly set out an elf-friendly breakfast of Hershey kisses and Smarties to welcome him back. 

Cute, right?

It really was, until I realized I had to quickly eat those candies to keep up my ruse. I stealthy unwrapped the candy, shoved it in my mouth, and arranged the wrappers around Jingles. 

Cute, right?

It was, and the kids giggled in delight when they discovered that "Jingles ate" his breakfast, and I was pretty proud of my ninja elf skills. But, they continued to "feed" Jingles all day. 

Seriously. All. Day. I don't know how I didn't get caught, sneaking the treats away each time. 

Later, they asked if they could sleep in the living room tonight (they think this is great fun). Being the weekend, of course I agreed, and then immediately wanted to bang my head against the wall. With them in the living room, I would have to stage the elf for tomorrow in the kitchen, and very quietly at that. Blurg. 

But, I managed to do it, again without getting caught. I've got mad elf skills, I guess. 

The things we do for our kids...

Here Comes Jingles...

I spent time today taking down Halloween decorations, and replacing them with a few Thanksgiving items. No Christmas decorations will go up in our house until at least the day after Thanksgiving, although I did complete a couple of holiday related items today.

After chatting with Alex and learning about a couple of games he likes to play, I immediately contacted Santa and put in a request for those games. Alex is quite difficult to buy for, as he has just a few real interests (like Hot Wheels cars...and he owns well over 200 cars at this point...), so I wanted to make sure that Santa knew about these items.

This evening, I spent some time putting together a photo book for the kids, as instructed by their North Pole elf, Jingles. He wants them to get excited for his arrival, and also be reminded that they need to behave in order for him to stick around, so we'll see how this goes.

These tasks, on top of the usual Saturday chores (laundry and housework, yuck!), and the excitement of Andrew losing his first tooth, made for quite a busy day. I am tired.

Happy November, friends. For what are you thankful? Today, I am thankful that my kids are able to share the magic of each season and be excited for upcoming holidays and traditions.