When I became a mom I realized how special Christmas can be. A child’s eyes can light up on their birthday but the magic Christmas has on kids is special. My boys are getting older I am terrified the magic will run out before I’ve had enough time to soak it all in. I’ve decided to start a new family tradition.
Meet Mike.
I’ve been considering getting an Elf on the Shelf for a year or two but couldn’t justify the expense. Thirty dollars seemed pretty spendy for a non-playable toy. But over the summer Bash lost his first tooth and the magic of the tooth fairy brought us all alive. I figure I have two solid years of Christmas magic before the gig is up, the investment became worth it.
When I picked the boys up from school I told them that Santa had been spotted dropping off a surprise gift at some houses. When Nathan got home from work I filled him in and he was excited to help me get this surprise off the ground. He wrote the note from Santa, I put the package in the spot. He found the jingle bells and decided he’d go on the roof and jump around pretending to land at our house. The kids and I put in a Christmas movie when we heard him!
Lijh thought it was a ghost and went about watching the movie. Bash didn’t seem to hear him and when he did hear him he also thought it was a ghost. I told them that I was sure I heard the bells and perhaps we got picked for the special gift! The both flew down the steps toward the door but wanted me to open it instead of them, I urged them to check as I waited at the top of the stairs. Bash timidly opened the door and found the Santa wrapped gift and SHRIEKED with glee, “Momma, Momma, he DID stop at our house!!! DAD, DAD!!!” and he ran around looking for Nathan with Lijh in pursuit.
They looked upstairs, downstairs, in the bedrooms, in the bathrooms, in the weight rooms but couldn’t find Nathan. I started to wonder where the heck he was, I mean, it took me a long time to convince them to even check the front door, he should be in the house by now. They re-checked the whole house and then ran upstairs without any luck of seeing him. Then the sliding door opened and in walked a hunched over Nathan, groaning a little he took off his shirt his belly and chest were red with what looked like a rash and had the same spots on his back and I asked, “what happened to you? Did you fall off the roof or something?”.
He didn’t say anything, but groaned hunched over, walking to the bathroom to assess the damage. I followed him and asked again if he fell off the roof.
He did fall off the roof and neither of us could quit laughing. Although we live in Minnesota and it has snowed the warm weather and rain we got during the previous two days melted all of it. He tried to tell me how his foot slipped off the step-ladder and he slid down the shingles on his stomach before falling on the deck but neither one of us actually got through the story. He was laughing and I was laughing even harder.
After we stopped laughing we found the boys and read the Elf on the Shelf book. The naming ceremony took a lot longer than expected. We ranged from Peep, Gingerbread, Hercules, Port and Ginger before settling on Mike.
As the boys drifted off to sleep, Nathan and I positioned Mike as he’s pictured and the boys woke up to find him they each had that sparkle of magic in their eye. Me? I had tears in my eyes from picturing Nathan’s graceful roof exit!
Much love and peace this holiday season. I hope it’s full of magic!
Jes xoxo