Who Knew?!!!

Last week at school, Emory Grace learned from some of her classmates that you can attract one of Santa's elves to your house by writing a letter to Santa and leaving it out with some crushed up Saltine crackers and a small glass of water. The crackers remind the elf of the crunchy snow at the North Pole and the water reminds it of melted snow, which is where they apparently get their water. Once the elf comes, he/she sends the letter on to Santa and then hangs around, making mischief until Santa comes back on Christmas eve. At that time, the elf returns home with Santa, but can be attracted again next year. Who Knew?!!

SO...on Saturday night, we dutifully put out crackers and water, along with letters to Santa and went to bed, anxious to see if anything would happen. Lo and behold, when we woke on Sunday morning, there was a small elf hiding in our Christmas tree!! You cannot imagine how surprised we all were! He was holding a green sack that contained a card stating his name is "Zachary," a small jar of magic snow dust from the North Pole that we are to sprinkle on him at bedtime each night (this helps him come to life) and a letter telling about why he is here and how long he will stay. As you can see, he is a cute little fellow and the children love him!

This morning when we woke up, Zachary had apparently found all the Christmas puzzles and a Santa Mr. Potato Head. It appeared he and Mr. Potato Head had been trying to work the puzzles...quite unsuccessfully as all the pieces were in a big mish-mash pile and they were sitting in the middle of it! Oh well, at least Zachary found a playmate and they seem very fond of each other!

Emory Grace and McGinnis can hardly wait to go to bed tonight to see what Zachary will get in to next! Christmas will be quite exciting at our house this year! We'll keep you posted on our many elf adventures!