Tinsel's Magic

Like Nordstrom's long-standing policy of not decorating its stores for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, I too, believe in celebrating one holiday at a time.  It's unfortunate that Thanksgiving is often marginalized due to the growing popularity of Halloween and the "Christmas creep" that seems to start earlier and earlier each year.  I think it is important to take time to recognize and appreciate all the blessings in our lives.  And, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We are immensely grateful for all changes the past year has brought us.

That being said, since Tinsel, our Elf on the Shelf, has come into our lives, Thanksgiving night has marked the start of our Christmas season.  Legend has it that on Thanksgiving night, Santa sends his scout elves to their adoptive families to serve as "behavior monitors," watching and listening to everything that goes on and reporting back to Santa each night.  Well, as luck would have it, several days before Thanksgiving we remembered that Tinsel was still in Westminster.  Fortunately, Mom Mom had a spare elf that she let us borrow.  When we opened the box, we discovered, to our horror, that our temporary replacement elf has blue eyes, curly lashes, and pink cheeks.  Since Ryan has the memory of an elephant, we knew he'd immediately recognize the replacement as a fraud!  To say we were panicked was an understatement!  Mike actually briefly entertained the idea of driving overnight to Westminster to get Tinsel before the boys woke up!  Although I thought that was a bit extreme, I knew we had to think of a solution so that Ryan wouldn't start questioning things.  We decided to put the replacement elf in Gavin's crib, facing the wall so his un-Tinsel-like features wouldn't be as noticeable.  We figured we'd tell the boys that Tinsel was exhausted after flying to Westminster, and then to Ocean Pines, after discovering we had moved.  Crisis temporarily averted!  However, I have no idea how we're going to disguise the imposter until next week when we return to Westminster to retrieve the original!     

Early Friday morning I was awakened by the sounds of excited whispers coming over the monitor next to my bed.  Even though it was painfully early, I was touched as I listened to the boys discuss the elf tradition and wonder about Tinsel's whereabouts.  After a few minutes I could hear the pitter patter (more like galloping thuds) of little boy feet as they explored every room looking for Tinsel.  They could barely contain their excitement when they found him!  Their enthusiasm and anticipation was so infectious I, too, found myself filled with holiday spirit.  It's amazing that such a small, unassuming toy elf has come to be such an important part of our family Christmas tradition and represent the magic of the season.