Hello Felix

Well a new tradition was born this week. One that I never imagined would be part of their childhood. Elf on the Shelf. Apparently Addie's school class has their own elf. When Ms. Ward asked the kids to raise their hands if they had one too all of them had their hands in the air . . . except Addie. Of course this story came to me from Addie so maybe one of two others really didn't as well but I'm going off of what my little first grader told me. All of her classmates were raving about their family elf and Addie just sat there wondering why she's never had one. If anything can break my holiday tradition childhood core memory making heart it would be that story. Addie was so confused asking me why we've never had one. Truth was I had vowed years ago I would never do it but I was not prepared for this moment or about to break her heart even more. I tried to make it better by saying maybe we did have an elf but he or she never showed themselves to us before. I asked her how she thought our Christmas Eve pajamas magically showed up every year. Addie felt a little better but not much. She asked me if her cousins also had one so I told her that Aunt Poe Poe had a family elf. Actually she has two elves which doesn't make things better haha. We got home from school and Addie face-timed my sister Pollyanna to ask her about their elves and how to get one assigned to us. Pollyanna told her that all she had to do was write Santa a letter asking for one. Addie got right to work writing Santa a letter to ask for an elf. I was in a bind. What was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth about elves and ruin her holiday spirit? I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to get us an elf. The timing was kind of tricky however because this was all on December 1st and Addie had her letter all ready that night. The next day was Hudson's birthday and I didn't want to overshadow that at all but I also didn't want Addie to feel forgotten as she had to go back to school to hear about everyone's elves again. 

"Dear Santa, i heard we can ask for a elf, i promise i will take good care of it. We only want one plaese. can it be a girl? from Addie"

On the 2nd I looked online to see where I could order one and was surprised by how expensive they were. I decided to order one for same day pickup at Target and decided not to tell Danny about it because I knew he wouldn't want to get on board haha. I made an executive mom decision. Grant was with me the whole time as I went to pick it up and never had a clue about what was in the bag as the Target employee ran it out to me. I knew I couldn't go inside the store and do it in front of the kids without them realizing but this worked out perfect. Once home Grant went straight to the toy room to continue playing and I quickly typed up a letter then ran the bag next door and asked if they could ring our doorbell at a certain time and leave it on our porch for the kids to find when we answered. They were happy to do it which was great because they literally just moved in last week and this was our very first encounter. I told them what time the kids would be home from school and we planned it for about twenty minutes after we got home to do it. I also had to quickly look up all the rules about Elf on the Shelf since I've always avoided it I didn't know much about it. Apparently the first day you can carry the elf around in the box/book it comes in and then after that it somehow breaks free and then can't be touched without losing its magic. I'm just hoping it will last a day in our house full of little people without being touched. 

"To Ferguson Family
Special Delivery
Santa got your letter!
I'm sorry you haven't seen me before but I'm ready to show myself! Have you ever wondered who brought you your Christmas Eve Jammies? It was me! I don't have a name yet so can you three (Addie, Hudson and Grant) help name me? I'm so excited to officially join your family!"

I thought it was so funny that one of Addie's first words were "what is Dad going to think?" haha. At that point he still didn't know 😬.  Luckily he went a long with it and even replied back as the elf on the note that the kids left him that night. The kids recognize my handwriting so Dad contributed in this new tradition and helped with the note. They all came up with the name Felix. 

Hudson is such a good kid and wasn't bothered by having Addie's Santa letter replied to on his birthday. If I could do it again I probably would have waited an extra day and done it on the third but luckily Hudson sees it as an awesome thing because he and Felix share a birthday. I love that kid so much. I'm so blessed with him as our son. 

Addie I love you and I hope you always believe in magic.