Meet Pat, he will be with us until Christmas...

The Elf on the Shelf, what an exciting, cute, helpful, pain in the butt he can be. Now, don't get me wrong I think it is fantastic how excited my kids get when they find him in the morning. Since the first day we brought him home Drew has been enamoured with him. We watch the the Elf on the Shelf movie almost once a day (love the dvr), and Drew really takes the fact that the elf, Pat, is watching to report to Santa seriously.

The downside to Drew's excitement for Pat is that he now wakes up at least an hour earlier, rip-roaring and ready to go. This would not be a problem if my kids typically slept late and mommy was a morning person, but they don't and I'm not. So every morning Drew awakes wondering where in the house Pat could be?  It is amazing how quickly they find him. He is usually found within the first 15 minutes of searching. Only once did it take them a significant amount of time and it wasn't until lunchtime that Drew noticed him propped up in one of the kitchen cabinets.

As we get closer to Christmas I am running out of good locations for Pat to hide. The challenge is to always use a new spot, that is semi challenging to find. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Well, there is one more issue, it HAS to be out of reach. Anyone who is familiar with this story knows that if you touch the elf he will lose his magic. This is not an issue for Drew, who would never dare touch him. Max however, would and would do it just for the entertainment of watching his older brother scream bloody murder.

On Christmas Eve Pat will return to the north pole with Santa Claus, and hopefully our sleep routine will return to normal. Until then we have a few more early mornings and Pat has a few more hiding places to find. Merry Christmas!