Letters to Santa, Christmas Eve

I know there are a lot of "Elf on the Shelf" haters, but I'm not one of them.  It's one more magical, fun part of Christmas for my kids, and these magical times don't last forever.  Ralphie, our elf, comes to our home every year on December 1st.  Each night, he flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa.  We don't make a big thing of "Santa is watching you, Ralphie is watching you," and we do this more for fun than anything else. The kids can tell Ralphie what they want for Christmas, as well as talk to him about their day, about what they want Santa to know, and generally show off for this stuffed elf.  In the morning, Ralphie is perched somewhere new.  Sometimes fishing for goldfish, sometimes hanging above their bed from the ceiling fan, and sometimes posed in the Nativity.  (Sometimes he is posed exactly where he was the day before, and we are scrambling to move him before the kids notice!)

Zachary and Kate had a conflict a few mornings before Christmas, so Zac drew a picture and taped it next to the Ralphie to report to Santa.  I heard him say, "Ralphie, make sure Santa gets this.  Also, please don't have Santa look at the back.  This is the front, and this is the back.  I messed up on the back, but I am not supposed to waste paper, so just show him the front.  If you show him the back, please tell him that I messed up and it was an accident."

Look hard at the picture.  On the way to church, we talked about how tattling and that Santa probably doesn't like it.  He came home from church and promptly took the note down, threw it away, and said, "Ralphie, please tell Santa that Kate is a very good girl.  She is very nice to me and I really think she should get presents."

(Oh, please say you are rolling over the depiction of Kate--pony tail, spit vomit, and the scarlet letter "K" on her chest!)

Christmas Eve, Santa was supposed to row into shore.  We were told 10am by the Marriott, so there we were, early to Kalipaki Beach, only to find out he was coming at 3pm.  I was planning to head home and come back later so we could get dinner prepared, but decided to let it go and we spent 6 hours at the beach with four other families.  6 seriously beautiful hours.  Brady joined us at about 1pm, and the day involved paddle boarding, talking with friends, lots of sand time with our kids, and even a little surf session on ankle-slapping waves.

 Selah has Kate wrapped around her finger.  Kate will do anything Selah does.  It reminds me of Kate with her girl cousins, and I'm so glad there's friends here who will lavish her with attention.

 Zac didn't even need a bribe to paddle board.  This was his best time out.

 My paddle boarding buddy, Hilary:

 Kate was thrilled when Tate and Shay showed, up, too, and more excited that they were willing to run up and down the beach with her.

 Santa finally made it with his entourage of elves.

 See that really, really white beard?  It looks real, huh?  You don't think that looks like white yarn.  He pulled it off.  (Sarcastic.)

 Zac snuck in to see Santa a second time just so we could get a picture.  I think this Santa made him a bit suspicious.

 Kate didn't miss a beat asking once again for her pink bike and barbie, please.

 We had the Clark family and Amanda and Jason over for Christmas Eve dinner.  Brady wanted the family tradition lasagne for dinner, so I cooked up a zucchini and eggplant from "Cook's Illustrated."  Delicious!  The impressive part was getting it done so fast.  Heidi added homemade breadsticks, and the kids decorated Christmas cookies.

After dinner, the kids reenacted the Nativity with Brady and Heidi calling the shots.  Shay gave birth to baby Jesus from her belly button.

Manger Scene:

Wise Man Ty:

Angel Kate:

Another Shepherd (see the candy cane?) Tate:

The lasagne box held a gift from the wise man:

 I love a full house on holidays so much.

I tried to buy pajamas, but the island was sold out.  (They were also sold out of lasagne noodles, but I finally found them at my 4th stop and bought the very last box.)  Instead, we gave our kids slippers, which was a good call because it's 61 degrees in my house right now and we are all chilled to the bone.

 Bunny slippers and monster slippers.

 Kate and Zac each left a cookie for the white bearded man, probably hoping that his beard was not made of yarn:

 Santa made it to our house after lots of effort, and left them a note.

 The kids went to bed so excited, they could hardly breathe--especially Zachary.  5 is a perfect Christmas age.