the ELF on the shelf

I saw this cute elf on my friend Tara's blog yesterday and I HAD TO HAVE IT!! Isn't he cute? I wasn't sure where this little elf was available for purchase, so I did some google searching and found my very own little elf on ebay. I CAN'T WAIT for him to get here in a few days.

SO here is the reason that I am so excited about this little elf...

I have been pulling the 'Santa Clause' card quit a bit lately when it comes to disciplining my two very darling, but DRAMATIC daughters. Court and I have been telling them that Santa knows when you are NAUGHTY and he knows when you are NICE. AND when these girls are being NAUGHTY we threaten to give Old St. Nick a call. It was working for the first few days of the holiday season, but the effect is beginning to ware off a bit. TODAY I told them that we have a VERY special visitor from the North Pole coming to our house to stay until Christmas Eve. They were of course THRILLED with that idea!! So this little elf will be hanging out around the house in various places keeping an eye on them to make sure they are being good and are staying on Santa's nice list. Each night when they go to sleep he will travel back to the North Pole to report to Santa Clause and let him know how they behaved that day. THEN the next morning he will be hiding in a new spot in our house and they will have to find him!!

Christmas takes on a whole new level of fun when you have children. I love getting to experience Christmas from a child's perspective. The holidays are magical no matter what age you are, but they are extra special when you have your very own little one's to celebrate with.

I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his example and his amazing gift of the Atonement that he freely gave to the world. I am grateful for this wonderful season of giving where we get to celebrate his incredible life.

I would love for others to share their Holiday Traditions with me!!!! We are still working on making our own traditions with our kids so I would love to hear what other people do. I would especially love some ideas on how to have a Christ centered Christmas.

Some of our favorite things to do during the holidays are to make a Ginger bread house together as a family, bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, make home-made decorations for the kids Christmas tree, and the girls and I go on a mommy daughter date with their friends and their mom's to a children's nutcracker.

If you have a great tradition you would like to share please email me @sharemystory.brittany@gmail.com, send pictures too if you have them:)