That lil Red Elf...
I started to have an Aunt guilt trip the other night. December 1st every year it appears. Right when the elf on the shelf ideas (and bragging) starts to fill your news feed on Facebook. Every year I start to feel guilty. Am I being selfish?? Every night moving that little man in his red jump suit and cheeky grin around the house, posing him in some creative matter. Some people set up little scenes for the elf, or even bake little elf size cookies. You have to be kidding me! Some days I fail at baking for my kids that are here , now I have to bake for the elf too!? No I don't think so... Mmmhmmmm.......OK, I get it that it’s all in good fun for the kids. your'e making memories and starting new traditions with your family. However, the one thing I have noticed is once you’re in you are IN! Year after year you move that smug smiling elf around your house every night. You can’t tell your kids or nieces nephews grankids .... after a few years, “yeah elf is not coming back!” Ekkk! No thank you! Talkin bout a shock to them and even more a Christmas memory shot to kingdom come and back ! I start to feel selfish for my discussion for not doing it. Are they missing out because I or their Mom is lazy? I really thought about it and the answer I came up with was heck no! We have our own traditions in our house. And I'm stickin to them for these kids too as they grow up around here with this crazy Aunt they are all stuck with....So I decided that every day during the Elf on the Shelf advent we do one kind thing for others.t may be as simple as her helping hold the door open for someone, dropping change in the red kettle outside the grocery store, or giving that old woman who sits by herself every Sunday at church a hug. We have found things every day. But is's something and it comes from the heart of wanting to help someone else... and that more than anything is what I want these kids to remember about me, that I loved to help somebody that fills my heart more than anything, that is besides seeing these kids I love to the moon and back doing and learning the same thing, I hope it's something I can leave with them long after I leave this world...We talk about why we are doing nice things for others, and maybe they don’t understand it a hundred percent, however they get a big ole grin every time and tell me they did something nice and they liked doing it...I understand that the elf is so magical that it flies back to Santa every night to report on how the kids are behaving. However, I have chosen in our house to just teach the lil kids to be good to others because no one is watching! And you do it because it makes your heart smile and for no other reward than that ...♥ Merry Christmas Jaxon. Allie, Brentley, Madison, and Samuel I love you guys to the Moon and back a bazillion times..This is the beginning of a tradition I hope as you grow older and begin your own families that you will carry on this new tradition and keep this going for not only me but for all of you as well ....
Aunt Hope :)