Elf on the Shelf

Yesterday, Shawners told me about a girl in his class who has an elf on the shelf who you are not supposed to touch and he disappears to 'tell Santa' if you've been good or bad and then reappears elsewhere. He said he didn't know if it was real or not, but then they went out to recess and the elf disappeared and reappeared later somewhere else! So then he thought it was real, and wanted to go to B&N to buy his own.

We did. And we came home and Shawners opened him in his box and left him on his stuffed animals, and didn't touch him just like the book that came with him said. Somehow the elf disappeared from his box and reappeared on a lamp in our living room. Shawners woke up this morning saying, "Mom, it's real!! He really disappeared!!"

Yesterday he was also telling me a lot of the kids in his class don't believe Santa is real. I told him the real story about Santa last year when he asked, but also told him it's a fun story to believe in and he has to at least pretend to believe to get Santa presents. When he mentioned some of the kids in his class don't believe, Justinbustin asked him, "Do you think Santa is real?" and Shawners replies, "I don't knooow." I think this elf guy is because he really wants to believe in something still, and I love it.

All In One Night

Pretty sure I had a cuteness attack on the way home from Cub Scouts tonight hearing all this:

Before heading home:

S: Mommy, I want to ride with you.

M: Why?

S: Because you're beautiful.

On the way home:

S: All I want for Christmas is all my teeth [since he's missing about five right now].

S: Mom, can we go on that Christmas train again? [talking about the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Christmas train we went on when he was three years old that was all lit up with Christmas lights, and Santa and Mrs. Clause boarded the train at a stop]

M: Yes, maybe. That was in California.

S: What was that thing Santa handed out?

M: Candy canes.

S: Oh, yes, those. That's what I like about Christmas. Christmas is so decorative!

S: Can you write Santa a letter anytime? Not a here's what I want letter, but like a compliment note? [Then, without pause, and referencing a website we use to write Santa letters and get an immediate response:] Mom, I know Santa's not real because he can't get a letter in the Antarctica that quick.

M: He does visit all the houses in one night, so maybe he can get a letter and send it back that quick.

S: There's only 12 hours in one night. How can he visit all the houses?

M: Maybe that's the magic of it. Are you looking forward to Christmas since it's coming up?

S: Yes. And my birthday. Did you know Santa can see me right now?

M: Yes. He's checking to see if you're being naughty or nice.

S: I've been a little naughty.

M: Yes, you have.

S: I'm going to be in between naughty and nice.

Later on:

S: Since I was grown up I wanted to make a machine that could make me fly, and clean my room, and climb walls like Spiderman. Since I was like five, I wanted to do that.

Still later in the car...

S: When my tooth falls out I will have an upside down C in my mouth.

S: Anybody who wants my tooth to fall out say, "Aye."

And when we got home:

S: Daddy wanted to yank my tooth out and I said, "No can do. Doodly do."

S: Mommy, can you write the tooth fairy a note that I yanked my tooth out?

Letter to Santa

Shawner's Christmas letter to Santa in 2008. He was 7.

Dear Santa Claus,

My name is shawn.  I am a boy and I am already 7 years old!!  I live in the great city of austin.  Of course, that's in Texas, United States, but I'll bet you knew that!!  This year I've been so good that I should be the angel on top of the tree!

Santa Claus, some things I might like for Christmas this year are:
- bunch of Pokemon movies;
- bunch of stuffed animals; and,
- bunch of Pokemon Toys.

Santa Claus, I almost forgot to say...  Are you really in real life? How can you live in the Antarctic? How does your reindeer fly? How does Rudolph's nose shine? How do you go from place to place in one night? How can your elves make anything that they can make? How are you not scared on the sleigh? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (lots of hugs)

Love, shawners