The magic of a little Elf

So we started our Christmas tradition of Elf on the Shelf this year and it went off without a hitch!
I was worried Ava was too young for it or that she might be scared of the elf. Boy was I wrong!! This little elf is MAGIC...not just for the kids, but for the parents as well!
Ava hasn't behaved this well in days!

Daddy read the book to her in our bedroom while I went and helped the elf "set up".

The book is so cute!!
It explains how the elf comes to our house every morning from the North Pole to watch Ava and she flies back each night to give a report on Ava's behavior to Santa.
Next we helped Ava think of a name for her elf. She wanted to call her "Elf Girl" but we told her to give her a name like Ava or Ashley. She said "How about Bef??" (Beth)
My guess is she picked this name because we were just reading "O Little Town of Bethlehem" because she doesn't know any Beths. So funny!
We then told her Beth was in the living room and to go find her. She was so excited!!

Can you tell what she was saying?

"Where is Bef??"
And then she finds her...just hanging out on the blinds.

Look at the smiles on her face!! Pure magic. I promise I saw a sparkle in that little girl's eye!
She decided to chat with her in some sort of Elf/Toddler gibberish...

And then she waved at her and said "Hi Bef" no less than 524 times!

I am so glad we decided to start this tradition in our family!
She gets so tickled each morning as she looks to see where Beth is sitting.
The bonus of it all, of course, is reminding her when she thinks about disobeying...that Beth is going to report to Santa!

And when Christmas is over, I think I will create a "Cupid on a Shelf" a "Bunny on a Shelf" and so on for every Holiday, just so I can continue to bribe my child.
Hey, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures!

g