Jimmy the Elf

Some of you may be familiar with Jimmy the Greek the gambling guru but the Spiegelhoff's now have Jimmy the Elf.  I was told last year about this Elf on the Shelf book that would keep your children semi-in line for the holiday season.  You buy the book, which comes with an elf.  You let your kids name him.  Quinny originally wanted Cocky.  Not sure where that came from but we didn't think it real appropriate.  Every morning I was going to have my children running around asking, "Where is Cocky?  Is Cocky going to tell Santa I was good?" You get the picture.  We settled on a timeless holiday favorite, Jimmy. 

Jimmy sitting on a pitcure frame

Jimmy the Elf is a skinny little dude with a nice Florida tan. Check out the picture.  Jimmy secretly told me he loved the assignment because spending so much time at the north pole is very cold so it was nice to be able to get a tan in the middle of winter.  The kids can talk to Jimmy providing their Christmas list or anything they want Santa to know. Jimmy just takes it all in.  He doesn't speak back.  He saves his words for Santa.  He makes sure to tell Santa everything that goes on whether the boys have been naughty or nice throughout the holiday season including what they do at school.  Then Santa will decide what they get for Christmas.  Jimmy can't be touched because we wouldn't want to jinx any of his elf magic so the boys cannot touch them.  Jimmy has helped out the boys in this arena by only "hiding" in high places.  Every night after the boys go to bed Jimmy uses his elf magic to whisk himself back to the north pole to fill Santa in on the day's events.  When he comes back in the wee hours of the morning he's in a different spot the so boys have to find him each morning.  It's an entertaining hoot!  "DADDY! DADDY! I FOUND JIMMY!!!"

So far it's worked pretty well.  Anytime we're on the verge of a three year old tantrum we just say Quinny, do you see Jimmy over there?  He's watching buddy.  It causes great confusion and reflection on Q's part.  He really wants to throw the tantrum but he really wants Santa to be happy with him too.  We usually settle on a happy medium, a shortened tantrum.  It definitely helps.  The book isn't cheap and can be found everywhere like Target if you're interested.  I suppose they imagine you are only going to buy one in a lifetime.  I was told to look for it after the holiday season for next year as it will be on sale. 

It worked out really well for us because we saw Santa at the Christmas party and we told him that Jimmy hitched a ride home with us.  That's gold, Jimmy, gold!  This parenting thing is too easy.  You just have to spend some time getting out of the box and enlisting a little holiday help from Jimmy the Elf.  On a side note we have some good friends that are going through a tough spot this holiday season and have started their own blog to keep their friends and family posted. I'm creating a link here for Cory and Mindy's blog.  If I can figure out how to use this technology I will post a permanent link somewhere on this site.