our Elf on the Shelf has arrived!

I have a confession: the biggest reason I look forward to Thanksgiving every year is because the day after it's over Christmas Season can finally begin and I can turn up the Christmas carols on my car stereo with no shame! 

This year marks Christmas Milestones for several reasons and these milestones make me SO giddy with excitement that I really needed to devote a post to it all:

Milestone One: This is our first Christmas in our own house!! That's pretty huge and pretty awesome. 

Milestone Two: This is our first Christmas with a child who will be awake during the Unwrapping-of-Gifts portion of the morning (last year Henry was a month and a half old at Christmas and he literally slept in his Rock and Play sleeper the whole morning lol). 

Milestone Three: This is our first Christmas with an Elf on our Shelf!!!!!!

Santa himself sent me an email the other day (I am on his mailing list) and he told me that we should expect to receive our elf right after Thanksgiving. This excited me beyond all words. 

He explained that we didn't get an elf last year because Henry was so young and young babies like him are always good and don't need reporting on. 

However, Henry is old enough now that an elf needs to keep an eye on him (and boy do I agree, Henry definitely can be naughty AND nice now!) so an elf was being dispatched to us right after Thanksgiving. 

Tonight we went out for our weekly Friday Pizza Night at Henry's Grandmom and Grandpop's house and when we returned - HUZZAH!!! - OUR ELF WAS HERE!!!

and he had a scroll in his hands!!

I was so excited to see our elf that I nearly dropped all of my stuff on the floor!

We quickly picked up Henry and showed him the elf who will be living with us from now until Christmas Eve:

he was so excited! 

We unrolled the scroll and here's what it says:

"Merry Christmas!

My name is Melvin and I am your official elf from Santa's workshop at the North Pole!

I am so excited to get to know you all and to report back to Santa about how good you are all being this year! (and every year to come, I'm sure you will always be good!)

Thank you for letting me join your family every Christmas!

Love, 

Melvin"

awwww, right? Isn't Melvin so sweet??

After that Henry, Ryan and I all went upstairs to read the book that Melvin brought with him and to get ready for bed. 

 We learned that Melvin will be staying with us throughout the whole season and that he will leave on Christmas Eve when Santa drops off the presents (I guess he gets to hitch a ride back home to the North Pole with Santa and his reindeer? Lucky guy!). 

He explained that he is magical and that every night after we go to bed, he will go to the North Pole and tell Santa who is being naughty and who is being nice in our house and that Santa keeps track of it all on his list. 

He mentioned that when he returns, sometimes he likes to find a different place in the house to hang out. I have a feeling that it will be fun to find him each morning when we get up!

It was very exciting getting to meet Melvin and to read the story of the magical elves who are out staying with other families this year too! Henry seems very excited to be friends with Melvin...but i mean, can you blame him?

 

And so it has officially and wonderfully begun! Christmas is on it's way! I couldn't be more excited or happy. 


And guys, we have an Elf on the Shelf!!!


woo hooo!!


I'll report back tomorrow and let you know Melvin's whereabouts. I hope it's somewhere exciting :)