St Nick & the Little Elf

The boys woke up the morning after St. Nick was supposed to arrive and they had a little surprise not only in their stockings, but in Dad's as well.   You see, we have a little elf in our house during the holiday.  Not an Elf on the Shelf (yet), but rather a little 3 inch tall, ceramic elf.  It moves from place to place each night (sometimes staying in the same place for several days if it is a good hiding spot.  insert - if someone forgets to help the little elf move to a new place).

Well, while St. Nick was here, the little Elf must have been trying to see what was in the stockings and had a little mishap...

 

The little Elf, you see, must have fallen in Dad's stocking as he was bending over the mantle and trying to see in it.   He fell right in and couldn't get out.  Thankfully, he somehow had a piece of cardboard to write on and wrote a message to the boys, "HELP ME...." with an arrow pointing down.  

 

The hard thing is that the boys know that they can't touch the elf.  So, what was their solution to getting him out of the stocking?  They laid it on the hearth by the fireplace and let him crawl out on this own time.  Whew.  The elf was out and safe to move about the house.    

After figuring out what to do with the elf, the boys decided it was time to look in their stockings.  This year from St. Nick.... shirts, watches, rubber bands for rubber band bracelets and a little bit of candy (insert - left over candy from Halloween that was still in the cupboard) for the big boys & a small tractor and bouncy balls for Cooper.

 

Ethan and Trevor were more than happy to help Cooper figure out what was in his stocking!!