"Mr. Christmas"

We began our tradition of "Elf on the Shelf" this year. Mama gave Sam and Jack the book last year, but they were a little young and didn't quite understand the concept. This year got off to a late start because Sam refused to sit still long enough for me to read him the book. Finally, on December 7, I forced him to listen to the story and our elf, "Mr. Christmas," became a fixture at our house. Every morning the boys, especially Sam, would pop out of bed and run down the hall in search of their little friend. It was so sweet to see their excitement and watch them search from room to room until they finally spotted him. We made the mistake of telling Sam that Mr. Christmas liked to head back to the North Pole by 10:00 and he nearly had a panic attack one night when he heard us mention the time and it was after 10:00 (my boys are night owls). After that, he asked us every night," Is it 10:00 yet?" over and over again. The boys were a little disappointed to discover that Mr. Christmas was gone on Christmas morning, but we reassured them that he would be back next year. I'll miss finding creative places to stick him each night and I'll surely miss the excitement he brought to our house each morning.