A new family tradition

This year our family has started a new family tradition. The morning after we put our Christmas tree up, a special little elf arrived on our tree. He had a book with him, The Elf on the Shelf. We read the book together as a family and learned that the elf was sent by Santa to watch over our children. The elf flies back to the North Pole each night to report back to Santa. In  the morning, he lands somewhere in the house and the boys get to find him. I think Bryan and I have had as much fun with this new tradition as the kids!

The book also says that the family gets to name the elf. Dylan picked the name, "Ernie." He has been a pretty clever little elf so far! He has been found drinking milk, crashed into the tree on a paper airplane, hanging from the ceiling fan, caught in the bird cage and even decorating our family portrait!

Yesterday I overheard Dylan talking to Ernie. He said, "Ya know, Ernie, Christmas is really about Jesus. He was born on Christmas. He was born so He could die on the cross one day. He really loves you Ernie. He loves me too." I was almost in tears and jumping for joy at the same time as I listened to our son witness to an elf! He has done it before with his transformers, too.

Today I am thankful that Dylan is staying focused on the real reason for the Christmas season. We have a lot of fun with all of these traditions but I have worried from time to time that Dylan might get confused about what is real. His conversation with Ernie proves to me that he knows why we celebrate Christmas. All of the other stuff is fun and although some people don't agree with it, I don't see the harm in allowing our children to use their imaginations as long as they don't loose focus on JESUS!