The Happiest Little Elf

It’s that time of year again. With what feels like the blink of an eye, we’re back to celebrating the holiday season. It seems that with each passing year, as the kids get older, this special time of year seems to roll around faster and faster.
I don’t know about you, but I dread the day when the kiddies no longer scamper down the stairs on Christmas morning and squeal with delight at the sight of presents under the tree. I never want the magic to end!

Somewhere around mid-December of last year, my family was ready for Christmas, but it wasn’t quite ready for us. The tree has been trimmed, the stockings were hung, the outdoor lights were lit, and the Christmas shows had been viewed. The anticipation of Christmas was beginning to fade. The kids were starting to whine that it was taking forever for Christmas to arrive. We needed to give them a focus. The Advent calendar wasn’t quite doing it for them anymore.

Along came a happy little elf that simply appeared in our mailbox out of thin air! No bigger than a Christmas ornament, and one suspiciously similar to an ornament seen at the Dollar Store, this little elf is happy to hang quietly around the house and watch over the children. Every night, he reports back to Santa. Every morning, he’s hanging out in a different spot—which definitely proves he was busy reporting back to Santa the night before!

The kids love this happy little elf. Every morning they scamper down the stairs and search for the elf. When they find him, they squeal with delight as if it were Christmas morning. The children each take turns talking to the elf, telling him their secret wishes, apologizing if they were naughty, or simply thanking him for choosing our house to watch over.

Last year, this little elf made his first appearance in our home. By Christmas morning, the little elf’s job was clearly done, and so he travelled back to the North Pole for the rest of the year. Lucky for us, the elf is back again this year. The kids were so excited to find him in the mailbox the other day that they could barely keep their feet on the ground—no joke!

If you’re looking to keep the anticipating of Christmas from fading in your home, maybe your children will be lucky enough to find a happy little elf of their own in your mailbox too.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiesobczyk/6403225395/sizes/z/in/photostream/

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About Anita Reynolds MacArthur
Born and raised in Montreal, Anita Reynolds MacArthur is the author of the award-winning MacCheeky picture book series. The first two MacCheeky stories—A Royal Little Pest and A Royal Little Pest: Mine!—are now available as interactive digital apps on iTunes for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.Anita worked for 15 years editing other people’s words before deciding to write some words of her own. Anita continues to write and work in educational publishing (yes, she still has her day job). In her spare time, Anita visits schools to promote the importance of literacy and how it relates to students’ everyday lives. She recently completed writing the third story in the MacCheeky series entitled The Best Pet of All.Anita currently resides in a Toronto suburb with her husband, three children, and the family dog Goober.Please stop by www.MacCheeky.com for a royal little visit…