Elf on the Shelf: Week 1

He's baaaack!

Whether you love him or hate him, it's that time of year again when the Elf on the Shelf starts making mischief in homes around the world - including ours!

I've seen a lot of discussion lately about the Elf on the Shelf, and the negative impacts of him being portrayed as Santa's spy; there to encourage good behaviour for the month of December. While I'm a big fan of this fun tradition, our elf, Elfie Pokie Nokie, has never been there to spy on the kids. I personally think that's a little creepy, and also my kids have never really thought he was real. I mean, he's obviously made of plastic and fabric, right? Still, they enjoy finding him every day and seeing the antics that he gets up to. He's more of a Christmas treasure hunt in our home - as well as something to keep my creative juices flowing!

Anyway, whatever you're thoughts on the Elf on the Shelf are, I love sharing what Elfie Pokie Nokie gets up to here on the blog. I know that a lot of us need inspiration for fun elf exploits, so I hope my posts inspire some of you.

Here's a look at what our elf has been up to this past week since he arrived in our home...

Day 1
As usual, Elfie Pokie Nokie arrived in our home along with our advent calendar (which you can read all about here) on December 1st. He made no attempt to hide, although admittedly, he does camouflage nicely with the red and white of the advent calendar!

Day 2
Elfie had the kids stumped for a little while at first, but then they spotted him hanging off the side of the fridge among the fridge magnets. Doesn't that mountain lion on the Grand Canyon magnet look like it's eyeing off the Voodoo Doughnut as a tasty snack? Or maybe he's looking at Elfie. Do mountain lions eat elves? I'm not sure I want to find out!

Day 3
Rainbows and elves go together like magic, so it was no surprise when we found Elfie sitting among the books on our rainbow bookshelf. What was a surprise, however, was the teeny tiny books that we found Elfie reading. These elf sized books are Tiny Books from Social Print Studio. I had them printed with pics from Elfie's past antics in our home. They're magnetic so I usually keep them on our fridge but I guess it was tricky to read while hanging there the day before, so Elfie took them somewhere a little comfier. P.S. Don't books like pretty displayed by color?

Day 4
The kids couldn't find Elfie anywhere on day 4 until it was time to put on jackets and boots to head out to the bus stop. That's when they spotted his legs poking out of Ava's snow boots by the front door. What a smelly place to hide! And also proof that he's not spying on the kids, because I don't think he can see much from in there!

Day 5
All elves need a break every now and then, and it seems that Elfie needed one quite early in the season. We found him relaxing on day 5 in a flamingo pool float in the bathroom sink! He really needs a mini cocktail in his hand, right? Isn't this mini pool float cute? The kids use it (along with unicorn and palm tree floats) in the hot tub to hold their drinks, but they're just the right size for an elf!

Day 6
My morning coffee plans were thwarted when a little someone decided that they needed an espresso too - and plonked themselves right in the way! Lucky for Elfie I didn't have time for my morning latte before taking the kids to school so I hit up Starbucks instead - and he got to stay put for the rest of the day.

Day 7
Elfie in the jungle! Well, it's not quite a jungle, but we had very few potted plants in Berkeley so the small collection of plants in my office is the most jungle-like place Elfie has ever found himself. He's not very well camouflaged, but it did take the kids a little while to spot him. He will be camouflaged here a little better once Mathilde's red amaryllis flower in the foreground blooms. It's almost there. P.S. I've learned not to use the Australian term "pot plant" here in the US as everyone thinks I mean marijuana when I tell them about my pot plants! Potted plant. Plant in a pot. Plant potted in a pot.

And that's our first week of Elfie Pokie Nokie's adventures this year. I'll be sharing again at the end of each week until Christmas, so stay tuned for more elf fun.

If you need inspiration for your own Elf on the Shelf, make sure to use the search field above or check out these two posts by clicking the pics for a round up...

Elf on the Shelf - Week 4

Christmas is so last year, but I still have a few posts to share about our holiday fun - including the last few days of Elfie Pokie Nokie's adventures in our home.

Let's take a look at what he got up to in the lead up to Christmas...

Day 22

Elves live in the North Pole, right? And the North Pole is pretty snowy, right? Well, Elfie decided to share the snow love with the girls and brought them a pack of instant snow. I guess it was good prep for our trip to Colorado for Winter break (lots more of that to come soon, but for now you can follow along on Instagram). Anyway, the girls added the snow powder to a bowl with water and voila - instant snow! I'm not sure what was in that stuff, but it sure was fun to play with.

Day 23
Elfie Pokie Nokie is a fan of playing games and puzzles, and Jenga was his game of choice on day 23. We found Elfie with the Jenga blocks stacked ready for a game. I wonder who he was going to play with.

Day 24
Uh oh... Someone found the googly eyes and a glue stick! We caught Elfie Pokie Nokie red handed after he glued googly eyes onto the girls' walnut ink portraits by artist Kate True. Good thing the portraits were safely behind glass! Mathilde thought hers looked quite cute with the new eyes, but I think I prefer the original. Complete aside, but can you believe that all three of the girls' portraits were painted with the same ink? Amazing, right? I'll have a post coming soon about their portraits too.

Day 25

On Christmas morning we found Elfie sitting on the cabinet next to our Christmas tree. He had helped himself to a honey biscuit that looked suspiciously like the ones we had left out for Santa. Maybe Santa had shared his cookies with Elfie. I mean, he does get a lot of cookies as he travels from home to home so I'm sure he can spare one or two.

Later in the day the girls wrote letters to Santa thanking him for their gifts. I placed the letters in the last pocket of our advent calendar along with Elfie. He'll take them back to the North Pole and deliver them to Santa himself. This is always Elfie's last job of the year.

And that's it. Another December of Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home.

We look forward to Elfie returning again next year.

Elf on the Shelf - Week 2

I can't believe that Elfie Pokie Nokie has been back in our home for over two weeks now. I've already shared what he got up to during the first week of December, now let's see what he got up to during the second week...

Day 8
Being an elf from the North Pole the mild climate here in Berkeley must be positively sweltering for Elfie. On day 8 we found him chilling out in the fridge where the temperature must've been more to his liking. I mean, look at that smile. He seems pretty happy there, right?

Day 9

On day 9 Elfie seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a pickle. We found him hanging upside down on the clothes line by his feet. He doesn't seem to worried by his predicament though.

Day 10
It's finally starting to look like Christmas around here after we visited a Christmas tree farm over the weekend. Elfie was pretty happy with the new addition to our living room and we found him perched in the branches with this year's photo ornament (I make an ornament each year with our holiday card photo.

Day 11 
Uh oh! Dental hygiene is important, but Elfie Pokie Nokie seems a little confused about how to keep his pearly whites pearly white. Does he even have teeth? Either way, he got himself a little tangled in the dental floss. That's not quite how you use it Elfie!

Day 12
Sometimes Elfie just finds himself a simple spot where he can sit and observe the kids for Santa. That is his job after all. Day 12 was one such day. We found Elfie Pokie Nokie sitting inside a light fitting in the hallway keeping an eye on the living room. Luckily the bulb in this particular light fitting had blown and was taken out a few days ago to be replaced, otherwise Elfie might have found himself with a burned butt when we turned the lights on!

Day 13
Elfie! You're no Banksy but I guess your graffiti is art in your eyes. Elfie found himself a can of spray on snow and decorated a living room window for us. Not quite how I would've decorated it myself. I think we'll have to get some snow flake templates and apply the fake snow a little more nicely.

Day 14
Every year without fail Elfie gets into someone's Halloween candy. This year it was Ava's Halloween bucket that we found plundered of candy. Mathilde had been worried that he would get into her Halloween bucket so she made sure to eat it all as quickly as possible! Ava, on the other hand, still has Easter Eggs from April in hers along with the Halloween candy!

Has the Elf on the Shelf been visiting your home too? I'd love to hear what he or she has been getting up to. Is your elf a trouble maker or more of a quiet observer keeping an eye on the kids for Santa?

Elf on the Shelf - Week 1

The Elf on the Shelf...

People either love him or hate him. We definitely fall into the "love him" category - which is good because our elf, Elfie Pokie Nokie, has been back in our home since the start of December.

Every year I share what Elfie Pokie Nokie has been getting up to in our home, and this year is no different. So let's take a look at what that crazy elf has been doing over the past few weeks...

Day 1

On his first day back in our home Elfie Pokie Nokie usually appears in the advent calendar, which also makes its appearance on the first. This year Elfie was found hanging out of the large "25" pocket of the advent calendar with a little speech bubble saying "I'm back!"

Day 2

Looks like Elfie took the time to read some of the advent calendar vouchers while he was hanging out in there earlier as he knew that on day two the kids would get the chance to play in the snow. The annual Snow in Berkeley festival happened to be this day and in keeping with the theme we found Elfie making snow angels on the dining table. Although it wasn't snow. At first the girls thought it was sugar, but after tasting it (and expecting it to be sweet!) they discovered that it was in fact salt. In the past Elfie has made snow angels with mini marshmallows and flour. The salt was definitely easier to clean up than the flour, but not quite as tasty as the marshmallows!

Day 3

Elves are pretty playful little creatures, so it should come as no surprise that Elfie Pokie Nokie likes to play with the kids' toys while he visits our home. On day three we found him riding Mathilde's Code-a-pillar after writing a message on Lola's Lite-Brite.

Day 4

Elfie Pokie Nokie sure does rack up the frequent flier miles with his trips between the North Pole and our home. Being such a well traveled elf, he decided that he needed to leave his mark on our world map. On day four we caught him placing a sticker at the north pole (or as close as he could find) on our travel map of the world. This map hangs above our bed and Mathilde, who had snuck into our room in the middle of the night, was quite surprised when she woke up in the morning and saw Elfie peering down at her. I must admit, it was a little creepy.  

Day 5

A few years back Lola had a unicorn themed birthday party and I made her a unicorn pinata. The girls couldn't bring themselves to throw away the remains on the pinata after the party, and so it hung around the apartment for quite some time. Recently I decided that the unicorn's body was looking a little worse for wear (which happens after being smashed open with a stick) so I turned the unicorn into a a bust to hang on the wall. Being a fellow magical creature Elfie took a liking to the unicorn and we found him hanging out on it on day five. 

Day 6

The girls couldn't find Elfie for quite some time on day six. I think they had almost given up hope that they'd find him when Lola announced that she found two red sticks poking out of her ugg boots. It turns out they weren't red sticks after all, but rather elf legs! I'm sure that Elfie must've been feeling very dizzy after hanging out upside down in a pair of boots all day! 

Day 7

Day seven was another day when the girls thought that Elfie was no where to be seen - until they looked up! There was Elfie hiding on the ceiling fan in the living room. This is the second year that Elfie has hidden up on the fan but this year he was a little more well hidden. If he wasn't wearing that big red hat we probably wouldn't have spotted him at all as he peered over the edge with one eye.

Week 2 of Elfie Pokie Nokie's adventures in our home is coming right up...

Elf on the Shelf Week 3

We've been away on vacation and I've gotten a little behind with my blog posts. Let's just pretend I posted this last week when I planned to...

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Christmas is just a few days away - can you believe it?

Another week with Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home (or hotel room) has gone by and he has been up to all sorts of crazy things. Let's take a look...

Day 15

We woke up to find that Elfie was helping some other elves make their escape from our kitchen. He had opened a new pack of elf cookies as well as the cookie jar which had a few in it and led them to safety. Or at least he tried to! We caught him in the process and put all his delicious elf friends right back in the cookie jar. Sorry Elfie!

Day 16
The girls couldn't find Elfie at first - until they looked up. There he was laying on top of the ceiling fan in the living room. I wonder if he took it for a spin overnight. Looks like fun!

Day 17
Another day when the girls couldn't spot Elfie for quite some time, but when they did find him they couldn't stop laughing. Elfie had gotten his hands on a pack of candy eyes and a glue stick and made a little change to our family photo.

Day 18
Snow angels are fun, but Lego angels are even better. Actually, I couldn't think of many things more painful than laying in a pile of pointy Lego, but Elfie seemed pretty happy with himself. It did make for a much more colorful angel than show.

Day 19

Looks like we have an award winning elf on our hands! Wait a minute... those are Ava's triathlon, karate and cheerleading medals and trophies. You almost had us fooled Elfie! You may not have really won any medals or trophies (or at least none that we know of) but you're still the best elf in our home.

Day 20

We woke up early the morning of our road trip to Utah for Christmas break and found that Elfie had packed himself in one of our bags. Whenever we travel over Christmas he always comes along with us. I guess it's easier for him to stow away in our luggage rather than fly to find us.

Day 21

Elfie couldn't resist testing out the make up mirror in our hotel room. We found him perched on the wall bracket checking out his face up nice and close. Ready for you close up Mr Elfie!

I'll be playing catch up over the next week with lots more Christmas posts to come.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the break!

Elf on the Shelf Week 2

How have two weeks of December gone by already?

I have no idea where they've gone, but they have gone and that means it's time to share another installment of Elfie Pokie Nokie's adventures in our home.

Here's a look at what he got up to this past week...

Day 8
Elfie got into the girls' Magnatiles and built himself some sort of crazy house. Or is it a car? It does have wheels. Maybe it's a motor home. Either way, it doesn't look like a particularly comfortable ride. Mathilde was pretty impressed with it, but she couldn't wait for Elfie to get out so she could play with the Magnatiles too.

Day 9
We picked up our Christmas tree from a local tree lot the day before but hadn't had a chance to decorate it. Elfie took it upon himself to decorate it - with Mathilde's dinosaurs! The girls quite liked the dinosaur covered tree but they couldn't wait to decorate it with real Christmas ornaments.

Day 10
It took the girls a little while to spot Elfie this morning. I guess he blends is better than it looks! Or maybe they just didn't think to look up!

Day 11

By now our Christmas tree was nicely decorated with real ornaments rather than dinosaurs. One such "ornament" did look a little out of place though. Wait a minute, that's Elfie pegged to the tree by his foot! Just like when we found Elfie hanging upside down on the fridge, there's a Jelly Belly jelly bean nearby looking just a little suspicious. I'd watch out for that jelly bean if I were you Elfie! 

Day 12

When we shop at Trader Joe's (which is generally several times a day seeing as it's just downstairs) the girls are usually given stickers by the staff. They also get lollipops when they find the Oski Bear hidden in the store. Mathilde and I went on a late night shopping trip and left everything, including her stickers and lollipop in the kicthen. Looks like Elfie wanted in on the Trader Joe's fun too! 

Day 13
Umm... what's going on here? A Fruit Loop bath? Nice eye mask there Elfie! It does look pretty relaxing. Mathilde thought Elfie looked pretty funny and snapped a ton of photos with her iPod - right along side me snapping photos with my camera. I wonder where she gets it from...

Day 14

The girls and I made honey biscuits to give as gifts the day before and it looks like Elfie decided to help himself to one. I don't blame him for sneaking one - they are pretty tasty. Perfect with a cup of tea - or whatever it is that he's got in that mug. You can find the recipe here

Lots more Elfie Pokie Nokie fun to come!

I'd love to hear what your elf has been getting up to.