Meet Bijou

Tim and I decided to put up our Christmas tree on Sunday night. We've never done this so early. But we were bored and needing something uplifting in this dire housing market. Tim has been stressed past his limit, between work and the houses. I'm trying to be supportive, not complaining when he has to work s late or the kids make me nuts. So Sunday was the day. This is the first year that we have had two "little helpers." I put that in quite because most of you know that under the age of 8, they don't really help that much. So the kids handed Tim the ornaments and he put most of them on the tree. We allowed them to put their special ornaments on (their Hallmark ornaments and any ornaments made by them). Of course, after they were done we had to go back and move some around (they seem to all be lumped on the bottom 2 layers and in the front). We went to bed Sunday night with a fire going and decorations up. Very festive, indeed.

When the kids were sleeping I had one last "decoration" to put up. But I had to find the perfect place. It had to be somewhere that the kids wold never reach it, no matter how high they tried to stretch or climb. It had to be somewhere that is visible most of the day. And it had to be facing an area where the kids play that I can't always watch if I'm doing something in the kitchen. So I chose to put it on the top of the hood vent in the kitchen, but facing the keeping room. It was perfect. I couldn't wait for the kids to wake up and see it.

Monday morning came, and the kids climbed out of their beds, groggy as ever because none of us slept very well. Tanner was sitting at the table, waiting for his breakfast, and Kendall was watching Sesame Street when tanner exclaimed, "Momm,y wha's dat?" He pointed to the small elf sitting on top of the hood vent. Kendall spotted the elf, and she flashed the biggest smile I think I've sen in a long time. You screamed, "Mom, we have an elf!!!" Yes, indeed, we do!

So I allowed them to look at him and ask me a few questions before I went into the family room to pretend to be "turning on the tree," but I actually found a "gift" under the tree, a book called The Elf on the Shelf. So we sat at the kitchen table while the kids ate and I read the book to them.

It explains that the elf comes from the North Pole to watch over the kids since Santa is so busy and can't watch everyone all the time. The elf has to be named. You cannot touch him or he will lose his magic and have to go back to the NP and stay. You can talk to him, but he cannot talk back; it's an elf law. The kids were mesmerized! They've never listened to a book so closely, especially Tanner. So we tossed some name around ... Jungle (taken), Elf (boring), Tinkerbell (too girlie), Squash (no, thanks) ... and somehow we decided on something silly. Bijou. Bijou Monkey-Buns.

So we now have an elf watching the kids' every move. It's really very entertaining to watch them get up and look for him in the mornings. he moves to a new location every night after returning form the North Pole. He's been in the kitchen, the family room, and in the foyer on a lamp. We'll see where he ends up next!