Elf Magic

Our grandchildren were anxious to come to our home for their annual sleepover under the Christmas tree. This tradition is not for the faint of heart, but well worth the efforts.

I like to include books, music, a movie, a craft and FUN. All those activities are sometimes easier or harder when the children range in ages 6 down to 2. I'm sure as the years progress, there will be opportunity for a variety of experiences.

It takes planning and orchestration when working with lively pre-schoolers. It all began with our married children dropping their children off for a dinner of pizza. Why these little kids need to pack their small suitcases full for one night away is beyond me. Cody forgot his pajamas, but remembered his flip flops and baseball and glove. Essentials, I guess. (You might note that they have their Christmas pillowcases I made them. Alex didn't have one yet because his pillow is still a little one from his crib. He actually had no problem sleeping on the floor with the rest of them.)

ELF MAGIC

This year I themed our activities all around Elves. After dinner and while our cupcakes were cooking, we read a few Christmas books. The new one this year was It's Christmas, David! (If you haven't met David, yet, you really need to!) We also played the Hot and Cold game to find the hiding Elf.

In case you can't tell, these are reindeer cupcakes. For a better rendition, see the ones from Betty Crocker. No need for perfection when you're running an assembly line with little ones. They had their preferences -- Jenna said pretzels dipped in chocolate tasted GREAT, Cody liked the gumdrops, and Antigone and Alex kept going for the marshmallows.

What did we do with the cupcakes? As Cody said, we played "ding dong ditch". I realize this is supposed to a quiet activity, but I thought our little elves would have fun adding bells to their feet so it sounded like reindeer when they were running away after ringing the doorbell and delivering the goodies to some unsuspecting friends. Cody was the one to break out in Christmas songs in the car along the way.

Our movie to watch when we returned was none other than, Elf, of course. We usually have popcorn and hot-cold-or inbetween chocolate milk, but this year we had more pretzels and marshmallows. Cody was the last one to fall asleep by 10:15.

Up by 7:00 for a breakfast of Ebelskevers, eggs, and juice. The recipe HERE from my friend is delicious, with no filling needed. The buttermilk syrup is equally yum. It was the first time I had made them, but got the hang of it by the second batch. A crochet hook really does work well.

We read another new-to-us book, The Elf on the Shelf, and then Grandpa took them to the park to play while I exhaled, pulled myself together, and got their craft ready.

When it comes to creativity, I've never felt it necessary to be original when so many other people have already done the thinking. Hopefully I'm not the last one to find all the great goodies at Tip Junkie. I also found out there are blogs specifically for Grandparenting ideas. Who knew . . . but why not?

Thanks to Mr. Google I found a very easy, age appropriate elf ornament to make. For the how-to's hop on over HERE. I glued the hats together and didn't do a very good job.

Pickup time for the parents was around 11:00. We filled in the gap time with finishing the movie from the night before and playing the hide and seek game again with "Flip". I laughed when I saw where Jenna hid him this time -- right in plain view. I guess he wanted to tag along with the wise men to see baby Jesus.

I have felt very fortunate to have all my grandchildren living here by us; however, this will change after Christmas when my daughter and her husband are moving to Reno, and taking their children with them. She has been notified of the necessity of coming back for the traditional sleepover again next year. I will need to be extra prepared because Matthew will be joining the festivities. Can't wait!