Christmas Tradition #1: Elves from Catie

Hello! Apparently I took most of October and all of November off from the blog, but I'm back. And with the Christmas season upon us, I thought it would be fun to share a few of the Elas' favorite Christmas traditions in a little series this week.

Like most people, we have several traditions that Scott and I grew up doing which we've now incorporated into our own family. And then there's the standard "American" traditions we also enjoy, so I thought I'd just share the ones that we've started new and original to our new little family the past couple of years.

Elves from Catie
By now I'm sure you've all heard of Elf on a Shelf. This came out a few years ago before I had kids. Honestly, I was a little creeped out by it. I don't know that I like the concept of an elf watching to see if I'm being good or bad! Around the time Elf on a Shelf came out, my cousin and I were talking and she told me about another elf that had been around for awhile that she started doing with her kids. As soon as she told me all the fun stories, I knew Scott and I would do this one...when we had kids of course! It's an amazing cause and such a fun approach to Christmas.

So this is a new tradition for us this year, but I love it already and can't say enough good things about Elves from Catie. Catie is a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer on her first birthday. She and her family had a long battle and they eventually lost Catie when she was four years old. During her sickness, she had a little elf that she loved. Long story short, her parents started an organization in her memory to raise money for pediatric cancer research. They sell these adorable little elves who come to your house to help spread Christmas cheer, like Catie's elf did for her.

Our elves, Holly and Vixen (do you like the Christmas correlation?) arrived on Saturday and it has been so fun! The kids "feed" them red and green jelly beans every night, which give them energy to wake up while the kids are sleeping and do fun mischievous things for the kids to find in the morning. The elves' main goal is to help spread the spirit and cheer of Christmas. We plan to have our elves do really silly, messy things. And also give our kids opportunities and ideas of things they can do to give to others. OK, and every once in awhile we remind H&H that the elves know Santa and might tell him if they're being out of line! Holly and Vixen will only stay for a couple of weeks and then they will go back to help Santa load the sleigh.

This tradition hasn't fully emerged yet, as we're still deciding how to have the elves help our kids focus on giving. One idea we came up with is to have the elves be holding some cash with a little note to H&H when they wake up that tells them to go shopping and buy a gift for someone they love. Or have the elves write a note saying they want to go with H&H to visit a nursing home that day. Scott and I are having a ton of fun planning silly scenarios for Holly and Vixen to get into too. (Saturday night they had a snowball fight with marshmallows in our pantry. And last night they drew Christmas pictures and wrote messages in lipstick all over H&H's bathroom mirror!)

If you have an elf already visiting your home, I hope you and your kids are loving it! And if you've been thinking about getting an elf but haven't gotten around to it, or you might get one in the future, check out Elves from Catie.

They are only $15 and proceeds go to their fund for cancer research. While you're there, you can even donate $15 to have an elf sent to a sick child who will spend Christmas in a hospital this year. You can pick the children's hospital it goes to from several around the country. This is such a fun tradition and even better, supporting such a great cause. Elves from Catie has four different types of elves: Boy and Girl Toymaker Elves and Boy and Girl Reindeer Elves. They are each so cute and I love the variety to make each kid's elf unique!

And now for your viewing pleasure, a longish video of Holly and Vixen arriving at our house.