In early December, we had a knock on our door, only to find that one of Santa's elves had come to live with us.  He came with a suitcase, and a cell phone with a direct line to Santa.  He said his name was Petey.  We welcomed him in, and he moved around our house "watching" Dylan.  Sometimes when Dylan wans't listening, we would say, "oh oh, Petey saw it and is going to tell Santa"

Dylan would often say in a sad little voice " I not want Petey to tell Santa"

You know that line... 

He knows if you've been bad or good...

Well Petey knows too, and he's got a direct connection to the big guy in red.

So the past 4 days before Christmas, we've been talking lots about Santa, and we saw Arthur's Christmas where elves that looked like Petey helped deliver presents.

The 4 days before Christmas, we've come to find our back door open, and Christmas gifts in the house.  Dylan said Petey and his elf friends did it.  He even opens the back door and checks.  Sometime calling out "ELVES!?!?!?)

Well, today, on Christmas Eve while Dylan was napping, Petey was up to something.....

Dylan found him in the hall attached to a ribbon....

We followed it through to the kitchen and found ANOTHER ELF !!  

And he was standing on a pile of gifts !!!

 Petey said the new elf was named Robbie, and Dylan was pretty surprised and happy !

Petey is a soft spoken elf,so you need to hold him close when you want to talk with him.  Daddy and Petey get along very well and Petey let Daddy know that Robbie was going to stay for a bit, and that we needed to move the gifts under the tree.

All of a sudden Dylan noticed ANOTHER elf.  He screamed and pointed and wanted to run right outside !  He was sooo excited !!

 Elf #3 is Bobby, and he's come to visit too !  Out went the boys to bring him in.  He even had authentic north pole SNOW on him !!!

Dylan was really concerned that they elves needed to go back to the North Pole--

RIGHT NOW.

  But after a talk with Petey, it was agreed that they were able to stay until after supper.

(we don't want santa to be shorthanded !)

But Bobby brought a movie for Dylan.  The Snowman.  A traditional British cartoon that Daddy explained that he used to watch as a child.

And so we ate chocolate, watched the movie, and will say goodbye to our elves until next year.

 Thanks for coming guys- Dylan has really enjoyed having you here, and has been very excited about you helping Santa by bringing gifts !

(ps- I learned about this via a blog last year.  This year I'm seeing lots of Elf on the Shelf stuff which I assume is similar)

Ohhh what fun it's been !!

Happy Holidays !!