Alabaster’s Final Report

This is our last report for 2010. Once again the Olson’s were a great host family. The mom and dad just barely make it back to the Nice List by going to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever last night and by turning Petey into a good elf. The kids were excellent this December. Hopefully they can keep Christmas in their hearts throughout the next year remembering the importance of love and caring for others even when Christmas isn’t right around the corner. Petey, Jangle and I can’t wait to come back next year to help them through the Christmas season.

Holy Wrapping Paper Batman!

This morning our whole house was covered in wrapping paper!

This is Petey- the newly un-Grinch-like South Pole –soon-to-be-North-Pole Elf. Jangle accidently got wrapped up in the package next to him.  

They even tried to wrap up the boys when they were sleeping!

This was the landing strip the Elves made in our front yard.

 

Then there was a note left by Petey that said:

Dear Santa,

Please teach me to be a North Pole Elf. The Olsons have taught me about Christmas and I want to learn more. I’m sorry for going on strike and telling you to shove it. If it is ok with you I will come home with you to the North Pole. If not, I will wait here for the Penguins to pick me up and take me back to the South Pole.

Petey

Looks like we have one more elf we will have to pack up tonight to send home with Santa!

Alabaster’s Report

Santa is almost here!!

Today the Olson’s had a change of plans. They weren’t able to take us snowtubing. The dad spent most of the day on the roof. We assumed he was building a landing strip for Santa. He wasn’t. So we had to build one ourselves tonight. I hope it is long enough. We got to watch them open some presents and it made the South Pole Elf so excited he changed from a Grinch into a real elf! If its ok with you we would like to bring him home to the North Pole and start his training to be a Christmas Elf. Maybe if he is a quick learner he can come back with us next year. We love our time here with the Olson’s but we are excited about coming home to get ready for next Christmas. I hope they like the extra Christmas presents we wrapped for them tonight. Petey the South Pole Elf was a great helper.

Breakfast of Champions?

Emily had a friend sleepover last night and Ana slept over at one of her friends houses since it was the start of Christmas break!  I had to work of course, but Todd was going to stay home with the kids. We were going to celebrate our family Christmas together after I got home from work at noon because the girls would be spending Christmas with their dad this year. So friends had to be gone by 10:00 a.m. so we could do our family Christmas.

I got a text from Todd this morning that said the boys had found the Elves. Alabaster was found hanging on our freezer door. Inside was Jangle with a note that said:

You have a busy day today. You better start the day with a healthy Elf breakfast!

He had a container of ice cream with sprinkles and cookies. And of course whipped cream! I think they must have done this on the day they knew mom would be gone, because I would NEVER have let them eat ice cream for breakfast!

And on top of that, Santa had left us a note. Well, it was more of a reprimand..for Todd and I. We were accused of a Crime against an Elf which is punishable by having our names placed on the naughty list. Apparently, by not allowing the kids to participate in whatever the Elves had planned the other night, we were committing a crime. Santa told us our names were now on the Naughty List and he sent a bag of “coal” for each of us!

Unfortunately our plans for the day were cut short when I fell on the ice down our front stairs. We were still able to have a nice dinner and open presents, and lo and behold we were able to do one of the activities the elves had planned for us! We got tickets for “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” play. So, after dinner we packed up the Elves and headed down to St. Paul for our 2nd annual Christmas play.

Alabaster’s Report

We are sad. We had a fun night out planned for the family and they didn’t go! Sam had a bit of the grinch in him, so the mom and dad got angry and sent him to bed. This is a major infraction and the parents should be held accountable.

The little one plays nicely with us but he rarely sleeps! We get bored waiting for him to go to sleep. And he gets in trouble for not staying in bed too. I think I remember this being a problem last year too. At least he is still little so he gets away with it.

We’re starting to think they don’t believe in Christmas magic anymore, Santa. It is very sad indeed. Every time a child stops believing in Christmas magic, your sleigh loses some of its magic flying power. It gets harder each year to get the reindeer to pull it when kids stop believeing in our magic. Plus- how muc fun is it to get underwear for presents?

Sam is playing that same bouncy game with balls. He was excited and seemed to like it. Emily’s friend isn’t doing a very good job with her elf duties. Maybe she isn’t really and elf?

Ana is gone again. We sure miss her when she’s gone. We might have to get out our magic elf dust and sprinkle the doubters tonight.

We are starting to get homesick but we still have a few days left. We hope all is going well at your workshop and you’re not too shorthanded.

The Elves Surprise

I got home from work and the kids were all excited. The elves had left us an envelope with a picture of an elf on it and a note that said not to open it before I got home but there was a surprise in it. Both Alabaster and Jangle had talked to me earlier so I kind of knew what we were doing- at least I knew a little bit. So I told the kids to hurry up and get their stuff on so we could go, since we were on a tight schedule. Holy cow did I get attitude from Sam. He was crabby and grumpy, and grinch-like and was just a pain. We got in the car and I asked him to give me the envelope and he THREW it at me. I got mad and told them that we weren’t going to go. So after we picked up Jack we went back home and stayed there for the rest of the night. When Papa got home he sent Sam to bed and everyone was in a bad mood because we missed out on the Elves surprise. It was sad, but I just couldn’t take Sam out in public with his bad attitude. I felt bad, and sad, and so did everyone else. It was kind of a crappy night. We still aren’t sure what all the Elves had planned for us. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to do some of it another night.

Alabaster’s Report

We were so good today Santa (oops we mean the KIDS were so good) :) We cleaned the whole house for them. We figured after all the messes we make that’s the least we could do.

It snowed again today, and all the kids except Sam said that was their “low” for the day. The wouldn’t do very well at the North Pole. Tonight Emily lost her shoe. I wonder if her toes got cold walking in the snow? We had a tea party with Santa, reindeer and bears tonight. Even the South Pole Elf joined in. They are doing a good job of teaching him.

We can’t wait for their surprise tomorrow! We had to tell the mom so she could help us plan things- but she’s done a good job of keeping a secret. We hope the kids enjoy the surprise! It should be really fun. (They better take us with them).

Oh, and Santa- both the boys had Christmas concerts at church. Jack needs a little more practice I think, but at least he was a very good boy. Sam sang really well, but he didn’t know his had was on backwards I don’t think.

Ana had a good bouncy ball game and made a loooong shot. Her mom jumped and yelled a lot. I think that means it was good since she was smiling and usually if she’s mad she doesn’t smile!

What a stress reliever!

We all came home today to an incredibly clean house! The Elves had cleaned up all the messes from CandyLand as well as the rest of the house! What a very nice surprise (at least it was for mom and dad- the kids thought it was kind of lame). We’re not real sure where they put all the stuff, but I’m sure we’ll find it eventually…

Graffiti

When we woke up this morning we found that the Elves had left graffiti all over our bathroom! They had written all over our walls! At first we thought it was just the South Pole Elf who had decided to be bad, but upon further investigation, we saw that both Alabaster and Jangle had contributed to it as well.

Turns out that the Elves had heard that both Sam and Jack were going to be in the Christmas pageant at church and wanted to go with to see them perform. So, of course we had to oblige them and take them with us. In fact, the day turned out to be a very busy day. We had Jack’s sunday school program in the morning, Sam’s Christmas pageant in the afternoon and Ana’s basketball game too. Both sets of grandparents came also, so we had quite the fan club with the elves, our family and the grandparents at church AND basketball.   

Alabaster’s Report

Well Santa, we did it…we gave the kids Elf medicine. And boy oh boy you should have seen their eyes when they saw the whole CANDYLAND! They were so surprised. We were scared that either the mom or Emily were going to hear us because they were both home when we were building it but thankfully they were sleeping. They have eaten a few pieces of candy by nearly enough to cure their stomach flu. And they haven’t even played the game we set up yet either.

The kids are having a hard time waiting to open their presents. Just wait until they see what you bring Christmas morning!

Oh,oh,oh! They got to visit your workshop Santa! They saw all kinds of stuff we do, and our classroom where we learn to build toys, the mailroom, your workshop, bakery and the reindeer’s flight school. They were all so well behaved.

That South Pole Elf is really starting to cause trouble. I hope they don’t think it’s us. They need to teach him some manners.

Ana had another bouncy ball game and she put a ball in a basket but kept stopping the other girls from doing it too. This is a really strange game she plays. Emily didn’t go to her game today because she threw up yesterday. But she is doing better- thank goodness! When humans throw up it is really gross-not at all like the peppermints that us Elves throw up. It sure doesn’t smell as good either. Sam had practice for something at church. We hope they take us with them to see whatever he was practicing for. Jack forgot to put us to bed tonight…hee hee. What should we do???

Candy Land

On Friday I stayed home because Emily was sick. She came home from school after throwing up. So I sent her to bed and I went back to bed myself since I had been up with Jack two nights ago because he had the same thing and had never really recovered from the lack of sleep. Well, when I woke up I went upstairs to find sheets draped over the doorway to my dining room with a note that said “Under Construction”.

Construction...in my HOUSE?!

What on earth was going on? I knew Emily was still sleeping and no one else was home. So, of course I peeked behind the curtain. Oh my goodness was I surprised at what I saw! I wanted to  wake Emily up right away, but figured as a good mom, I probably should let her sleep since she wasn’t feeling very good.
So, a few hours later Emily finally emerged from her room, groggy, but a bit more rested. I jumped up from the couch and told her to come here immediately and see what the Elves had done (because who else could be responsible for something like this?) I dragged her into the kitchen to see the curtains, and when she peeked behind them there was a gasp- just like I had done. I couldn’t wait for the others to get home so they could see what the Elves had done! Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too much longer. Both Sam and Ana had the same reaction as I did. And when I picked Jack up and told him that the Elves had a surprise waiting for him I don’t think he anticipated this!

So, what was it? Well, the Elves had left us a note that said:

When Elves get the stomach flu, the best thing for them is lots of Candy. What better place to visit when 'you’re sick than…CandyLand?

The Elves had turned our dining room into a life size version of the board game CandyLand! Our table was turned into the board complete with Lollipop Lane, Peppermint Forest, Gumdrop Pass, Molasses Swamp and Santa’s Toy Shop as the end. There were giant “hershey kisses” hanging from our ceiling fan and all over the room, there were peppermints strung up like garland, they had decorated our tree with candy ornaments and there was candy EVERYWHERE!

The elves wrote on our window with SNOW!



Candy was left everywhere!



They replaced our plants with sucker trees!

The Elves made gumdrop snowflakes

They turned our table into a life size board game!



Lollopop Lane



Peppermint Forest



Santa's Toy Shop



The kids loved it!



    

Alabaster’s Report

The South Pole Elf is making people here sick and crabby. Can you make them remember their Christmas spirit, Santa? I think we will give Sam and Jack some Elf medicine and see if it helps them feel better.

Hostages

Last night Jack decided to come down with the stomach flu. So mom was up with him from 2:30 until about 5:00 a.m. She must have been so preoccupied or tired that she didn’t hear the commotion going on in the other room. When the girls woke up this morning they found that there was a hostage situation in our dining room. Apparently one of the South Pole Elves had snuck into our house and tied up Alabaster, Jangle, Bernard, and the other reindeer. He was very angry! His note said:

We never get any credit for the work we do at Santa’s workshop while the North Pole Elves are gone! We Are Sick of It!!!

There will be no delivery of toys to this house until our demands are met…

1. Cookies (leave them out)

2. A pay raise.

3. A day on top of the Christmas tree.

This South Pole Elf even sang us a song- ‘Take this job and shove it’. What a bad little Elf! Jack was NOT happy about this South Pole Elf. He asked if Santa was going to put him on the Naughty List, and if we could send him back to the North Pole. I think we should send Santa a letter asking him to increase the South Pole Elves’ wages so they aren’t so angry (and so they stop holding our presents hostage!). Since mom is home today with a sick Jack- her plan is to bake up some cookies – yes, she is catering to their demands…just in case! And we’ll just have to see about getting him a day on top of the Christmas tree.

Alabaster’s Report

 

HELP US SANTA!!!

Snowman Celebration!

It is the 123rd Annual Snowman Building Celebration at the North Pole today! Bet you didn’t know we knew about that, did you? Well, to be honest…the Elves told us. Or actually showed us.

The elves had collected all the snowmen in our house and brought them over for a snowman building contest. This was the note they left us.

Tonight is the 123rd annual snowman building celebration at the North Pole. But since your snow here is so cold these will have to do. We hid some snowman soup for each of you to find. We left each of you a clue. Good Luck!

Then each of the kids had to figure out their clue so they could find their “Snowman Soup”??

This was Ana’s clue: 

He’s the tallest Elf in the house…But he’s quiet as a mouse!

Emily’s Clue:

Figure out who has the biggest feet, And you will find a nice warm treat.

Sam’s Clue:

You ate a full day’s of baking, look here to find a treat for the taking.

Jack’s Clue:

THIS bear isn’t from Chicago, But under his hat is where you should go.

When they figured out their clue this is what they found!

Alabaster’s Report

We noticed a lot of whining from the little one tonight…he might need to take some of Jangle’s Elf medicine if he doesn’t get better soon. I think he’s come down with the holiday flue and only Elf medicine can cure it.

They all pitched in and cleaned the house – although the mom didn’t do very much. At least the papa did the dishes and the kids picked up. She was also late to work today. She should remember that she’s not too old for the Naughty List. Sam played a game with his mom, and even though he lost he was a very good sport. But maybe they should turn the heat up in the house because he was wearing his snow hat inside all night!

We heard Ana made it into something called a “Spelling Bee”. I guess she knows how to spell the word “bee” and none of her classmates can. (They seem to be really proud of her, but we’re wondering if maybe the teachers need some more help if none of the kids can spell the word “bee”).

Emily played with her little semi-elf friend today. When she came home the papa got made at her for texting the mom at work. Boy! Adults these days just don’t understand kids!

Well tonight is the 123rd annual snowman building celebration. We kind of miss all the hoopla at the North Pole. I think Jangle is getting a little home sick. I’ll do my best to keep him in line, Santa. But everyone knows how much mischief a homesick Elf gets into!

Vacationing?

 

This morning (those Elves do tend to be quite active at night when we’re all asleep don’t they??!) we found the Elves had taken over Jack’s Batman cave or whatever it is. This must be because their house is still airing out from when the reindeer and Scooby, and Sock Monkey, and SpongeBob, and Batman all had a sleep over with the Elves. Last night Jack was going to put the Elves to bed, and Papa had to remind him that their house was still stinky from the reindeer farts. He asked Jack to check and see if it was still stinky. So Jack opened the door, leaned waaay in and took a BIG whiff and said “Ewwww….. Gross!” I guess it must have been. They even decided to decorate it so they would feel a bit more at home.

Gingerbread Men

This morning after the enormous snow storm that we had yesterday, we decided that today was going to be our own version of a “Snow Day”. I think the Elves must have agreed because when Sam woke up, he found the Elves had left something for the boys to play with- PLAYDOH!!! And they had even made their own North Pole playdoh that smelled like Gingerbread. They warned us not to try and eat it because it didn’t taste as good as it smelled, but Sam didn’t really believe them. He told us that he tried it and it was indeed YUCKY.     After breakfast we finally had an entire day to ourselves to do whatever we wanted. So Papa decided to watch football and I started some Christmas baking. And boy did I bake. Even the kids helped out. We made peanut butter kiss cookies, chocolate peanut butter balls, and chili (ok, so that was Christmas baking, but it still counts since it took all day!). It was a fun day all around- we played a couple of games and there was no fighting! Too bad we don’t get many of these days due to our crazy schedules!



Sam making a gingerbread man out of playdoh



Alabaster’s Report

 

They can all be added to the nice list today. We had cooperation AND Christmas baking! There are now some cookies here! YAY!

The girls are home again. I guess their bouncy ball games were canceled because of the snow. Can you believe people here don’t want to go outside when it snows? Although Sam wanted to but his dad said it was too cold. Bah!

There are still no presents under the tree even though the mom and dad went shopping. Maybe we should help them wrap some?

Breakfast with the Elves

This morning we woke up to a wonderful surprise! The Elves had invited us to eat at their own “Elf Cafe”. They had a menu all printed up for us to choose what we wanted to eat- except…the only option available for us was Mrs. Claus’ pancakes. The Elves said they wanted to do something nice for us since we had visitors, but they weren’t the Elves that worked with Mrs. Claus in the bakery. So they tried to get some other Elves to help. Unfortunately these Elves were still too small to be of much help so they left us instructions on how to help them “grow”.
Then, when I went to make pancakes for everyone this morning the Elves surely did leave the magical pancake recipe from the North Pole because the pancakes all turned out GREEN! At first we weren’t sure we really wanted to eat them, but Sam was brave enough and said he’d try one first. They actually turned out to be pretty delicious.