Even though Greta had a lot of fun opening presents and stuff last Christmas, this is the first year that she’s been really getting into all the cool holiday traditions and stuff — music, lights, Santa, etc. — so, needless to say, every day has been an adventure this December!
And adding to that holiday magic has been the super-cute Christmas book, “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” by Carol V. Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell, with illustrations by Coë Steinwart. We bought this book and toy set (each book comes with a different looking toy elf inside) at a post-Christmas sale at Nordstroms last year, and, man alive, am I glad we did!
Here’s how it works. According to the story, every night, your personal elf (who you name and register online) heads home to the North Pole to tell Santa how you’ve been behaving that day. And every morning when you wake up, your elf is sitting in a new location in your house.
Our elf is named Paul (Greta named him, and we have no idea where the name came from) but lemme tell ya, watching her look for him every morning is hilarious and the look on her face when she finds him, well, if you could put Christmas in a bottle, that’s what it’d look like. Adorable!
I know it’s a little late in the season to start your own “The Elf on the Shelf” tradition, but, you could always do what we did and pick one up on the 26th for next year. Either way, this is a total holiday must-have for anyone with little kids…so cute!
make. see. eat. do. 
Oh, what a super cute idea! Where did the elf end up on Christmas morning – under the tree?
No…sadly, Paul never came back after Christmas Eve since his job at our house was done until next Christmas season. I was hoping that the explosions of presents waiting for her under the tree lessoned the blow of Greta not having Paul around anymore, but, just yesterday, she started asking about him again. So sad!
We just tell her that Paul has returned to the North Pole and that she’ll see him again next year at this time. Of course, a few hours after saying that I spotted a whole pile of the books and elfs on sale at Barnes & Noble while there with Greta. Luckily, she didn’t see them. Whew!
just got my elf this season and waiting to see where it hides tonight.