Is Anyone Else Exhausted?

I know my husband and I are only two among the millions of parents out there with young children who gave each other a high five for surviving another Christmas and then promptly took a long nap while their children played with all their new toys.  Well, I actually did not take a nap, but rather enjoyed the quiet of children playing contently and a husband plus two puppies snoring softly.  While I sat here, I thought briefly about what lengths we as parents go to in order to keep the magic alive for yet another year.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of shopping, wrapping paper, advent calendars, gift bags, baking, elves, Santa letters, ribbon, bows, Toys For Tots, parties, photos, magic keys, holiday cards, tree ornaments, stockings, school events, milk and cookies, and much more.

In the end, we think it's worth it, no matter how exhausting it is.  I hope that our children will someday do the same for their own children.

A photo posted by Karen Coutu (@karen3g2s) on Dec 12, 2014 at 12:03pm PST

How was your holiday?

Silly Monkey Stories: A Letter to the Elf on the Shelf (a.k.a. Bob)

Last year, we introduced our children to The Elf on the Shelf.  We even watched the DVD and read the book.  Our children couldn't agree on a name for him, so they named him Bob Jake Luke Makenzie, Jr.  We call him 'Bob' for short.  Ever since last year, Bob has been keeping a watchful eye on the children from the beginning of December until Christmas Eve.  He hides in a different spot around the house, so the children have fun trying to find him every morning.

One morning recently, the children found a note from Bob with the words "Be good" on it.  Well, they promptly ignored that advice, but decided to leave him a note of their own.  Our nearly 7 year old daughter had been practicing letter writing at school, so she took on the task of writing a letter out that reflected the thoughts of all three children . . .

On the morning the children found that note from Bob, he was sitting on top of the curtain rod in the living room, which explains how the children's letter was addressed . . .

Do you have a silly Holiday story to share about your children?  I'd love to hear it!

Happy Holidays!!

Click here to read all our Silly Monkey Stories!