Gingerbread Houses
Our annual tradition is making gingerbread houses. See my post from last year for the recipe.
Living Life and Loving It
by shelley
Our annual tradition is making gingerbread houses. See my post from last year for the recipe.
by shelley
by shelley
My grandchildren expected the Elves to be here (i.e. the Elf on the Shelf). Elf on the Shelf is a relatively new tradition and I had heard about it but not familiar with this new tradition. I had to do my homework on this one. Parents took charge of the Elf but I learned a lot. Apparently the Elf on the Shelf did not make an appearance until 2004. (Learn more details here.)
The Elf on the Shelf was written in 2004 by Carol Aebersold and daughter Chanda Bell over a cup of tea. Bell suggested they write a book about an old tradition of an elf sent from Santa who came to watch over them at Christmas time. Aebersold’s other daughter, Christa Pitts, was recruited by the family to share her expertise in sales and marketing. Together, the trio devoted the next three years promoting their self-published book and attending book signings and trade shows.
The Elf on the Shelf won the Best Toy Award by Learning Express won Book of the Year Award from Creative Child Awards and National Best Books Award sponsored by USA Book News in 2008. In 2012, The Elf on the Shelf made its first appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside fellow parade newcomers Hello Kitty and Papa Smurf. In 2013, The Elf on the Shelf hit the #1 spot on the USA Today Bestsellers List.
We seemed to be visited by both a boy and girl elf.
And as you can see they seemed to do their thing each evening and each morning we made our discovery of some of the things they were up to during the night. I captured a few of their antics…