I’m a brand ambassador for The Elf on the Shelf, and have been chosen to help spread Christmas joy to others through this sponsored post. All opinions are my own- please see below for additional disclosure.
One of my favorite traditions during the holidays is putting up our Christmas tree. The last couple ofyears we’ve had a real tree which adds an extra element of fun to it as we go make a day of choosinjg the perfect tree, bringing it home, and setting it up. Even before we had a real tree, it was one of my favorite traditions because of our ornamnets!
Our boxes of ornaments are a sort of time capsule. Every year, without fail, we revisit memories from our past- whether it’s the ornaments the kids picked out last year, the ones with their tiny handprints from their baby days, or even the ornaments that Justin and I made or received as kids ourselves. The four of us are represented on our tree- not just as we are now, but our whole lives. I can find the ornaments from my first Christmas, the one from when we first got Bella Notte, the ones from each of the kids’ first Christmases, and even our newest additions- the ones the kids made with some magic and a little help from their Scout Elves!
We have a pair of Scout Elves at our home- Red and Blue- that love to celebrate the holidays with us- you can read more about them here and here! They arrived a couple of days after Thanksgiving this year and we’ve been having so much fun with them! One of the ways we’ve celebrated the holidays together was with the Letters to Santa kit from Elf on the Shelf.
The Letters to Santa kit includes magic paper, Mrs. Claus’s Magic Press, markers, cute ribbons, and a storybook that explains how it all came to be. Apparently, the Scout Elves were having quite the time trying to get letters to Santa- they are pretty small elves, after all! So to make it easier for the elves and to make sure Santa got every last letter, Santa and Mrs. Claus came up with a way to let kids write letters to Santa, use the Magic Press to shrink them, and tie a ribbon around them so that the Scout Elves could easily carry them to the North Pole- and back!
That’s right- and back! When Santa has taken note of a child’s request and added it to his list, Santa sends the list back with the Scout Elf so that the child knows Santa got the letter! Not only does the Scout Elf bring the letter back, but they hang the letter on the tree as a Christmas ornament- and that’s how you know Santa knows your wishes!
We had such a fun time doing this activity as a family. The boys painstakingly wrote their letters {Zac drew his, since he can’t quite write yet, and had me caption it} and we were all amazed by the magic- it takes just a few minutes to shrink them down to Scout Elf size! And, the kids were so excited to see their letters hanging on the tree the very next morning- right next to the ornaments they just picked out at the store. To be honest- I’m pretty sure they loved their new tiny ornaments from the North Pole more than the store-bought ones!
If you haven’t written your letter to Santa yet this year, you can pick up the Letters to Santa kit at a Scout Elf Adoption Center near you. Oh, and if your Scout Elf is running low on ideas for places to hide or things to do, invite them to check out the Scout Elves Ideas App! Our elves get ideas from the app all the time and we have fun looking at it to see what other elves have gotten up to!
How do you tell Santa what you want for Christmas?
CCA and B partnered with bloggers such as me for The Elf on the Shelf® brand ambassador program. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. CCA and B believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. CCA and B’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.