Tough Guy

Sometime after Thanksgiving & shortly after our visit with Santa, a pixie scout elf showed up at our house!

He came in a box with a book explaining his journey & purpose. He had been sent by Santa to come be his eyes & his ears in the house and his duty was to fly to the North Pole every night after the boys went to sleep to report what he'd witnessed. (So THIS is how Santa knows who's been naughty or nice! The elves are his spies.)

(Sorry I cannot rotate these images... it's driving me nuts!)

Our instructions were for us to name our elf & write it in the book. We contemplated for days... Daniel? (Which means, "God is my judge", not Santa. Seemed like a good place to start. Hunter really liked this one, he always reminded me of the Santa isn't my judge part.)

Darnell? (Stands for "hidden alcove or niche" kinda like an elf on a shelf? Also very fitting. Jared hated it.)

Scout? (Too obvious...)

Ranger? (Everyone seemed to like this one!) 

We pondered these and a few other names I cannot recall. Then Logan just started referring to him as "Tuff".  Jared thought it was adorable that he consistently called him that so the family unanimously decided our elf on the shelf would be known forever as, "Tough Guy", Tuff for short.

 Every morning the boys would wake up & search the house for where Tuff had landed. He would be perched, usually up high, where he had a good view of the day's activities. The kids could not touch him, but were encouraged to talk with him & tell him their wish lists.

As our little scout became more comfortable in our house he began to show his impish side & could be found zip lining to the tree on a candy cane.

Or fishing for goldfish.

Or dreaming of a white Christmas on a white sandy beach....

One time Logan touched him and he lost his mojo so we created a warm bubble bath filled with marshmallows & imaginary hot cocoa that Tuff sipped through his candy cane straw. He was back to his old self in no time.

One night he was documented making friends with Mario & the two of them hitched a ride with Lightening McQueen & Towmater until the police showed up.

                                                                    Nearing his last night with us he wrote a little note for the boys.
                                                                     He said not to worry that he "told Santa everything" & they would like what they found under the tree because he felt they were good little boys.

Our little tough guy even took some time to bring a little something for Jesus' birthday since that's what Christmas is really all about. Having faith in something you can't see but believe is there. I've felt a little uneasy about the balance of Santa & Jesus cohabiting, but for children learning to trust in something, I think Santa is a great place to start. It starts the training for believing in someone, Jesus/God./HolySpirit, even though they can't physically see or touch Him. He's there & He loves them and is generous wants to give them the desires of their hearts. Here's a blog post that resonated with me regarding this. (And, makes me want to start writing letters to my kids & having them write letters back!)

Here's another blog that reminds you to slow down, scale back & enjoy this season.

It's so easy to get caught up in the moment & want to propel our house & life into a frenzy. But, a big part of Christmas is just being together as a family.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas & takes time to enjoy the moments leading up to it. Be still and soak it up.