Christmas Magic!

So it's that time of year. Everyone's getting out the Christmas decorations and our children are so excited. Their eyes light up just thinking about all of the tradition to come. Some of my favorite Christmas memories were the ones our parents created for us...strictly for entertainment (for us and them :-). One would sneak outside and shake some jingle bells outside while the other cued us to hear Santa and his reindeer outside and run to bed (pretty smart way to get excited kids to bed). They would point to the sky and make us believe we saw Rudolph's red nose flying across the empty (refinery poluted) sky! Staying up late to assemble countless toys from Santa, the best of which was a canopy bed with Strawberry Shortcake bedding that I woke up in on Christmas morning in complete awe of Santa's ability to come and leave such magnificant suprises without a sound (They must have drugged me?). It seems like yesterday thinking of those cold nights piling in the car in our PJ's with our favorite blanket and pillow to go see neighborhood upon neighborhood of Christmas lights which seemed larger than life. So now it's our turn! Now we are creating memories that we hope our children will remember forever and talk about with syblings until their old and grey. Well, a friend of mine has introduced me to a new one...and it is so cute and so much fun! Just wanted to share it with everyone! Heard of "The Elf Upon The Shelf"? It's a book that you buy in a gift box. Each gift box contains one of these tiny little elves. It's a cute book the children will enjoy. The little elf comes to live at a house and explains to the children that he was sent by Santa to watch them and report back to Santa if they are "naughty or nice". Each night he flies back to the North Pole and returns to their house by morning only to find a different place in the house to watch and observe. He explains he will lose his magic if he is ever touched. He wants to be named and talked to. Please tell him what you want for Christmas and he will tell Santa. So, then while your child is sleeping you place your tiny elf on whatever perch you choose in your house. Each night you move him. The magic on your child's face when they first find the elf is priceless. And anything to help kids behave around this time of year is a bonus too! So our elf joined us about 2 days ago. Hunter didn't spot him until after returning from school. I forgot about it when I suddenly hear a "Mom, I see something red. Mom will you come with me to see what that thing dressed in red is? Mommy it's the elf!" He names him Fred Heckledinker??? or something like that???? Apparently a silly name he and PaPa use together. He told his elf to "watch out for my baby sister cause she will grab you right up and you won't have anymore magic." Elf backfired on us the second day (or on Thomas--I was at work). Hunter woke up at 5:30am and ran to Daddy saying "we have to get up and see elf when he comes back home from the North Pole!" He woke up so excited to bust the little elf sneaking in our house. Thomas informed him the elf was already back and was hiding in a new place. It's actually pretty fun trying to think of new fun places to stake out the elf each day. Anyways, our fun has just begun! You can buy these books/gift sets at Learning Express, or Hallmark stores. They probably have them at Barnes and Nobles too. Hope you have fun with this. I think it would be great if everyone shared their Christmas ideas or other little ways to enhance the magic of Christmas for our little ones! Any other ideas out there?!