The Last 8 Days of Elf Ideas!

My kids are older (12, 13, and 16) but the youngest still gets a kick out of searching for The Elf every morning.  His humor is a little more sophisticated than a small child so I can get a little more imaginative. 

3+ years into this, sometimes I feel like I've done it all with that darn Elf!  I know there is a whole movement to stop The Elf because it's a pain and causes parents stress, blah, blah, blah...

Um, we're parents, stress is where we live, people! If I can do something that takes me 5 minutes per day to make my kids smile I'm going to keep on doing it.  Their happiness is my crack.  Not even a bit sorry about that one.

In the home stretch before Christmas, I needed a bit of inspiration and found it at my local craft store.  I bought a few things that will carry The Elf through the rest of the month.  So here you go for the final 8 days:

1.   In the cake decorating section, they have little sugar cake embellishments that look a lot like cookies. I picked some that resembled gingerbread men.  I cut out a tiny apron from felt (no sewing!) and will set The Elf up with a tiny cookie sheet (cardboard covered with foil) near the oven.

2.  I found a tiny 16"  burlap tree and tiny ornaments he will decorate over night.

3.   At my local Dollar Tree I found little ceramic houses that The Elf will set up as a little Christmas town one night while we're all asleep.

4.  There are tiny ball ornaments with kids' names at Michael's Craft store and tiny gift boxes in their dollar section that will appear under the tiny tree one night.

5.  Also in the Michael's dollar section, there are teeny tiny ceramic mugs.  I got a snowman one that I will fill with hot chocolate and set him up near the tea pot.  I added 3 snowman mugs for the boys with hot chocolate mix in them.

6.  I have a nutcracker display waaay up on a shelf so I lined The Elf with the nutcracker soldiers and will sit back and laugh at how long it takes him to find it!

7.  I trapped The Elf under a drinking glass with a sign reading "HELP!"

8.  I found a tiny fireplace and glued tiny stockings to it with my boys' names on them.

Need more ideas?  Check it out from past years:

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Elf on the Shelf Linky Party

Good Luck and have fun with it!  You are creating memories and there are only a few days left - go out strong!

Smells like a man out there...

I have a pretty strong sense of smell, some smells can even trigger a migraine headache (Fortunately for me, one of those smells is a cleaning product. Sorry, can't mop the floor, Big Guy). Whether or not a smell triggers a physical reaction from me, most trigger an emotional reaction.

The Big Guy was working late this week and wouldn't be home until after dark. I must have had 10 boys over here playing football all afternoon up until dinner time. I forgot to check that the garage doors were shut until it was well past dark. The kids were in bed and I was alone and I opened the kitchen door into the garage to hit the garage door button. It was dark in the garage and the door was indeed open, but there was a smell that filled my nose and caused me to immediately shut the door and lock it before I could hit the button. I reacted in a split second, even before I fully realized what I was doing. It smelled like a man in the garage; a mixture of sweet tobacco and cologne, and I sensed danger and my body responded instantly.

We never did find anything and the smell went away once the second garage door opened but I started to think about smells and my response to them. I can smell something and be transported back to a place in time when I can see, smell and feel a moment in time.

The smell of ammonia takes me back to the days when I was still a working girl. We had gone to clean out the apartment of an elderly client that passed away. The strong smell of ammonia (urine) and the strange collections (her hair, milk jug rings, wrappers) left an impression on me. I have never been able to smell ammonia since without getting a migraine.

The smell of "Windsong" perfume and banana bread makes me think of my mom; spaghetti sauce and aftershave, my dad.

The smell of Aussi hairspray brings me back to my college days, getting ready to go out for the night with my roommates. One of the twins used this spray when getting ready and I can see and hear her whenever I smell it (incidentally, I hear the Wilson Phillips CD we used to listen to all the time when I smell it).

"Beautiful" by Estee Lauder reminds me of my wedding day and the earthy smell of moss reminds me of a childhood fort I built by a stream.

The smell of a newborn baby almost makes my chest ache with imaginary milk, I can't get enough, and the Big Guy has a smell all his own that makes me happy and safe.

Feta cheese brings me back to a college job at a Greek pizza parlor and a musty house smells just like the house I shared with friends one summer at college.

Anything plastic, (a shower curtain, for example) makes me think of a new dolly or Barbie and I HATE the smell of a new car.

Skunks make me think of a good friend I've lost track of that loved that smell, and The smell of the sea while driving over the bridge into Stone Harbor every summer brings excitement for the week ahead.

Is it just me? What smells trigger memories for you?

Snickerdoodles Memories

A snickerdoodle always brings me back to my childhood, even more than the classic chocolate chip cookie. I love this chewy, cinnamon-y cookie and always pull out the recipe card given to me by my mom at my bridal shower. Now, you all know I never follow a recipe without making some changes to it - so I added half butter and half shortening for this recipe rather than all shortening.

Helper Munchkin feels compelled to squat on the counter while cooking, it's his favorite place to hang. Come to think of it, that is what he was doing when he had his accident, squatting on the bathroom sink to see in the mirror.

There are huge chunks of my childhood I don't recall, but one clear memory I have is rolling snickerdoodle dough in cinnamon sugar, using the dishwasher door as my table, just like this.

Helper Munchkin insisted on chocolate chip after we'd already begun, so I divided the dough in half and added mini-chocolate chips to half and rolled the rest in cinnamon sugar. Compromise never tasted so good!


Did you know that today is National Wear Red Day? It's a day designed to bring awareness to women and heart disease, the #1 killer of women. A worthy cause that requires only that you stand up, spread the word and show your support by wearing RED!!!

Wanna shop?

Let's start underneath with BoBelly

A party dress to make us feel pretty by Classic Tailors


Keep warm with this wrap by Knitting Guru


And a purse to pull it all together by Daphnenen

Dude, I didn't forget you...check out this rockin' belt by Foster Weld

Mama Bear

Some of you may or may not know I suffer from multiple personality disorder. Fortunately, I have only one other personality and her name is "Mama Bear". You mess with my kids and I'll mess you up, is her motto. You can be family, friends, or a stranger at the playground, she doesn't discriminate. She is fierce and loyal and a bit scary. I wouldn't try to find her if I were you...

I was thinking about when and how "Mama" came to be and began thinking about my favorite poem/prayer I used to read during the later part of my pregnancy:

These Last Few Hours

It is important to me that I spend a part of the next few hours here alone with you in the darkness.

You and I will never be this close again.

By morning, you will be a tiny person all your own.

No longer the kicking, demanding bulge in my body that I have grown to love so well.

I pray God will safely guide you on your journey tonight,

And I ask him for the strength to help you all I can.

Again you signal,
You're impatient to be free,

It's time now...
I still can't read that without a catch in my throat and it was that night Mama Bear was also born.

I struggled through the night of my first child's birth with a wistful fear tinged with curiosity. I wasn't sure what this abstract idea of "baby" was going to be like and not sure I was ready to go there, but I was going - ready or not.

That night was a blur as were the next few days. I looked at my son with wonder and shock, we had made this person. I just couldn't believe it!

We spent the last morning in the hospital getting a diaper, sleeper, snowsuit, and hat on him (literally, ALL morning). Then we spent the afternoon trying to buckle him into his car seat, cover him, take him out, comfort him, put him back in... (ALL afternoon) and then we were off...reluctantly... and veeerrryyy sllllooowwwllllyyyy pulled into traffic from the parking lot. It was as if we'd forgotten how to drive, so careful were we of our precious cargo.

As we stopped at a red light about 100 yards away I was overwhelmed with emotion and this is what occurred to me: "I would jump in front of that truck over there for him." I said to my husband. He looked at me with tears and agreed and Mama Bear began to grow inside me.

She has been growing ever since and I still would take a bullet, lift a car, or stop a train for my boys. They were the best decision I've ever made.

Why all of this baby talk suddenly? I've be working with a customer who is decorating her nursery for her own baby and as I work on her frame I'm touched by my own memories and stories. I just love the quote she chose and I can relate to it as it's summarized in a way I couldn't express on that day in the car.