There's an ELF on our SHELF!

On Saturday I got a call that my sister-in-law was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. When she came over, she had a box in her hand. The Bigs came quickly to say hello and see what it was that Auntie Steph had and- oh my were they excited! Auntie Steph told us that her parents have an Elf that lives in their house named Eddie, and Eddie keeps an eye on everyone in the house and at night, he flies to the North Pole to report to Santa. Eddie had heard about the Doran kids and thought that they needed an elf too!
Auntie Steph read a book to the Bigs (while Z was weird and hid and Sean slept) and they learned all about the magic behind Santa's Elves! You may not know this, but there are elves out there that may look like plain ordinary dolls, but they're not!! They just pretend to be dolls and at night, they fly to the North Pole to report to Santa all they saw. When they return the next day, they are usually in a different place and you have to find them. The thing that everyone must know is that if you touch the elf, it may lose its magic, so you must be careful. At the end of the story, the Bigs and Auntie Steph helped name our new elf (and I'll admit it... I had a hand in this). Our new Elf's name is "Artie" after my sweet Grandpa Jonasen who would have loved to watch these 'Greats' of his grow, but since he's not here perhaps another "Artie" can stay (if for but a season) to watch over those who made the original Artie's heart grow so.

The human Artie's name-sake was quite enamored by the new elf in our home. I overheard him talking to Artie quite a bit and I don't think he uttered anything that day without a "Please", "Thank You" or "May I?". That night the Doran kids all were eager to get to bed and let the magic happen (on a side note I should say that it was sleepover day and they decided to be like the grandparents in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and share a bed and each lay on different ends-minus Sean of course...). In the morning we were awoken by Joe reading the story to the middles and then he said, "Are you ready?" They ran down the stairs and after about five minutes we heard, "MOM! DAD! HE'S OUT OF HIS BOX! WE'VE FOUND HIM! COME SEE! COME SEE!" And so I have been enjoying the conversations I've overheard them have with Artie, and my heart was warmed the other day when Ali Jane asked how many days until Christmas Eve. When I told her excitedly that there were only 20 days left, she frowned. That means we only have 20 more days with Artie mom... who knows, maybe he will make some appearances throughout the year, just to let them know that 'Santa's always watching!'