Elf on the Shelf: Yeah, I joined the craze too.

Every individual I cross and mention "Elf on the Shelf" usually ends in either two ways: 1) "What the hell is that?" or 2) "Oh.  You got one too."
Both responses are legit.

For those of you who don't know, 'Elf on the Shelf' is the latest kid-craze on Christmas traditions.  You can find the kit in a Chapters or Indigo and it includes a book and well, an elf!  A doll-like elf.  The story behind it is that this elf is sent by Santa himself to report on the child's behaviour.  Every night when they go to bed, the elf is flying back up to the North Pole to tell the "boss" how they were that day.  Then, in the morning, the elf is in a new spot and it ends up becoming a game in finding him.  There's rules too.  First one, "please don't touch".  This means the kids are unable to touch him as if they do, he could lose his magic that allows him to travel to the North Pole and report to Santa.  Second rule: he cannot speak (well played, don't you think?).  This is because it's the laws of Santa.  I've expanded into saying that Santa is full of secrets about the North Pole, the reindeer, and elves.  If the elf talks too much, he may let out a secret..and then get into trouble by Santa. 

So, after seeing so many pins on Pinterest, I bought one.  Yep.  That's right.  Pinterest inspired me to pay for this doll.  And I did it.. for the preschoolers. 

Duh.

Luckily it's the month of December and Canada Post is delivering parcels on Sundays because that's when mine arrived.  Funny enough, we had my family over and I ended up reading the story to my cousins and grandmother.. who look quite interested and in tune to say the least! 

I was very excited Monday morning of introducing our elf friend to the preschoolers.  Needless to say, some preschoolers have been challenging in terms of convincing them the elf is REAL and not just a puppet or doll.  In order to change their  minds, my T.A and I have been taking turns moving him around when no one is looking.  Then the whispers of "TOLD YOU HE WAS REAL" and "HE'S MAGICAL!!" started up.  One kid still thinks he's not real, but believes Santa is coming into the classroom instead and is the one moving him around.  Hmm.

The three year olds got introduced to him today and they love it.  They are obviously less suspicious and hate to say it, easier to fool.  My husband asked me if I feel guilty lying to the kids about him.  Honestly? 

NO!  This is so so so FUNNNNN!

I've got so many ideas on how to get the kids going!  Tomorrow we're decorating the Christmas tree and guess who's going to be waiting for them up top!?

Another requirement for this elf is naming him, so I left it up to the kids to decide what the name was going to be.  The four year olds each had to tell me a name, wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in a "construction worker's" hat.  The morning class settled for "Prince", afternoon class got "Super Elf" (that one.. I kinda sorta fixed.. the original was Heart.......).  Today, the 3 year olds had their chance.  Well the morning class just had to "tell me".. and it ended up that we're sticking with just "Elf", but the afternoon class actually thought about it and decided on "Eddie".  Cute!

See!  Even three year olds can be pretty creative:)

Santa has immiators: they're Dads'.

Wow.  I'm in my last week, three days left, frame of mind as a preschool teacher before the Christmas break and I feel like I accomplished everything except world peace with my preschoolers.  Candy canes and all!

Last time, I was fretting about our dear friend C, who did not want to be Santa and dismissed any plea from either a three year old or 26 year old.  In addition, I had reindeers who didn't want to be reindeers and experiencing stage fright for the very first time..badly. Well the performance day arrived and C was the most amazing 3 year old Santa, stage fright reindeer became the most outgoing and loudest reindeer I've ever witnessed, and more so - they all sang :)

Whoo-hoo!

My 3 year olds weren't the only ones to let me down either.  The remaining classes did fantastic, the crowd turnout was perfect, and the views of watching new families mingle with one another was very satisfying.  We only had a small hiccup with locating a Santa for two of the classes because originals bailed.  But luckily, a couple Dads' saved the day.  What became really entertaining was trying to either tell their child 1) not to say anything to their buddies that that's really their Dad sitting up there. 2) convincing them that that really IS Santa and not their Dad. or 3) that Santa has helpers..and those helpers are their Dads'.  Take your pick on which one you would most enjoy explaining to a four year old about (it was my four year old classes that were struggling to find a commited Santa!).

Despite the amount of drawbacks I could list into what I hate about planning Christmas concerts on my own (four in total), I really can't.  The list is so minimal after witnessing the kids do their performances YOU taught them and see my families being there for all the same, simple reason.  I mean, we had almost every father of each child attend, even if it meant he had to go back to work afterwards.  Satisfactory? Hardly.  More like inspiring!  It inspires me ..to keep doing what I'm doing..start thinking of ideas for next year..and most importantly, to always enjoy the appreciation of all that hard work!

By the way, instead of getting 18 different gift cards from Starbucks from my 3AM students, their parents all pitched in for a group gift instead. 

"Ms. Jenn! We bought you coffee!"

They know how to keep my heart warm.