Christmas is in the Air!

When I first heard of "Elf on the Shelf", I held off for the longest time to start the tradition in our house.  I really didn't think our kids would get into the whole idea.  Last year, I finally caved in and bought one for our family....it is a decision I have never regretted!  I was SO wrong about our kids reactions, they are beyond excited about our elf, Jack and were really looking forward to his arrival.

Our elf always arrives on December 1st.  This year I didn't know if that was going to happen or not.  As most of you know, we moved to Korea this summer.  Not all of our things came with us.  As a matter of fact, most of it is in storage back in the US.  I was for certain that I remembered to pack Jack.  However, when I went to get all of our Christmas decorations out, he was not there.  This was 2 weeks ago.  What's a mom to do....hit up Amazon & pray that the little guy would arrive in time.  I did come up with an excuse in case he was "late".  I was going to have him write in his letter that he got lost coming from VA to Korea.  Thank goodness when I went to check our mail yesterday, Jack was there (well, not the original Jack, but he will do).

Every year when Jack arrives, he always write the kids a note, decorates the table, leaves them a yummy breakfast, and brings them a small gift ( new pj's).

This year he left them snow- covered doughnuts & floating glacier hot cocoa!

I so wish Josh was here to see the kids faces when they walked down and saw Jack was back (Josh is on a TDY trip). You might ask is it worth all the trouble of decorating, etc....YES! They were so excited they could hardly stand.  The funny thing is Ethan and Rachel know that Santa is not real, but they still believe.....I LOVE THAT!  They were just as excited, if not more, than the two little ones.

Rachel is reading Jack's letter to everyone....

After Rachel finished eating, she read the "Elf on the Shelf" story to the rest of us...

 Then it was time to open their gift.......PJ'S!!!!

They LOVED the fact that they had matching pj's.  Caleb kept saying "Look, look, me & Michael are twins!"

Another tradition we do is some type of Advent Calendar.  Ever since I saw this idea on pinterest last year, I couldn't wait to do it this Christmas!!  This year we are doing a book advent :) :).  I picked out 24 books about the holiday season.  It's a mixture of books about winter, Santa, and the birth of Jesus. I wrapped them all up and placed a number on them....then placed them under the tree.  Every day we will open one up and read it....the teacher in me LOVES, LOVES, LOVES this idea!!  Ethan was excited too and asked if he could read the first book to us......oh, how I love this time of year!!!

Until Next Time,
Michelle