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Frisbee’s Return

It’s December (good gosh, where did the year go?!). And with the start of December comes the return of the Elf on the Shelf.  Frisbee actually showed up a few days before the start of the month, on a chilly evening when we were busy decorating our tree. Ben was sure that it was the perfect night for Frisbee’s annual visit. And he was right! A few minutes after we finished up the trimming, Frisbee was found on our front porch. Christmas magic at its very best!

Now, I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the Elf on the Shelf, if only because Pierre and I sometimes (often) forget to move him from spot to spot each evening after the boys are in bed (Ben and Nicholas, if you are eighteen and reading this, yes it was Mommy and Papa who moved Frisbee around. Sorry).  And I’m not terribly creative with what our Elf gets up to. He’s most often found in our Christmas tree or on the mantel or on the piano…or in our Christmas tree. I know, pathetic. I need to up the game, but by 8p.m. I’m so darn tired that the last thing I want to do is get creative with the Elf. I want to sit on my bum on the couch and watch Homeland (Ben and Nicholas, if you are still reading, it’s not because you weren’t completely with the effort). I completely admire my friends whose Elves get up to mischief having tea parties, baking cookies or having marshmallow fights. You all are awesome (but I will never show my sons the pictures you post on Facebook!).

Sometimes, Frisbee will do something a little special. Once, when my bugs were particularly naughty, Frisbee didn’t fly back from the North Pole (read: he hid in my sock drawer), too busy telling Santa all about the boys’ bad behavior. Another time, when Frisbee lost his Christmas magic (read: Pierre and I forgot to move him two nights in a row), Ben and Nicholas fed him Christmas cookies to bring his sparkle back. It worked! Mostly though, Frisbee likes the Christmas tree.

This year, Frisbee left Benjamin and Nicholas a note. In the spirit of the season, and in our family’s continued pursuit of teaching kindness, Frisbee challenged the boys to give away some of their forgotten toys:

 Elf

I can’t take credit for this pure stroke of genius. A friend posted it on Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I LOVE Pinterest? Totally addictive). The only change that I made was to switch “good feelings galore” from the original wording of “surprises galore”. I wanted Ben and Nicholas to take on this challenge without the expectation of anything in return, other than the feelings that come from doing good.

That’s not to say that they didn’t need some direction. Their first go around, Nicholas picked out five Matchbox cars to give away. Five. You’re not going to impress Santa with that, kid. They must have a hundred cars between them (no exaggeration), with 20 or so forgotten and dusty hiding under the couch. We could do better. So with a little bit of direction from their parents, Ben and Nicholas filled a garbage bag with puzzles and books, cars and toys that they really didn’t play with anymore. Then, they went to find Frisbee to tell him about their good deed, asking him to let Santa know. I can promise you, Santa was listening.

Interested in making a donation of your own? I scheduled a pick-up through GreenDrop. You can do it online in less than five minutes, and all donations benefit Purple Heart. Easy-peasy.

xo Naomi

P.S. I just noticed a typo in the letter: "of" should be "off". Oops! 

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