The Elves Remind Us

After a long day yesterday and another one scheduled for today with church, another showing, a basketball game and then confirmation, it was kind of hard to drag myself out of bed in the morning. But when I walked upstairs I found every single cupboard of mine open and someone had gone through all of them!



Please excuse the messy cupboards- I didn't know they would be on display!

    
 Then, right there in the middle of the floor- where I almost tripped over them- was Alabaster sitting in the little fort he had made (out of our canned/boxed food from the cupboards) playing Sam's DS.


Jangle must have fallen asleep cuz he looks like he's passed out underneath the fort

Jangle must have fallen asleep cuz he looks like

he's passed out underneath the fort





They left us a note saying "You sure have a lot of food in these cupboards. You should take them to people who may need it more than you do. Spread some Christmas cheer!" We packed it up and brought it with us to church that morning. As we got out of the car we saw a sign that said: 

Food Drive

  Those sneaky little Elves must have known that our church was collecting food today!

Oh, I also forgot to mention that Jack decided Alabaster and Jangle should go with us to church. It was a cold morning here in Minnesota, so we had to also bring their blankets. Jack wrapped them both up so snuggly warm and gave Jangle to Emily to watch and he took Alabaster. As we buckled our seatbelts in the car, Jack made sure that Alabster was safe too.

Jack and Alabster safely buckled
on the way to church

When we got to church, usually Jack fusses about being left at Sunday school. But he walked right in and didn't look back (I think because he had Alabaster with him.) But before we let him take Alabaster we had to have a little talk. Papa made Jack promise to keep an eye on Alabaster and not let him get into any mischeif. We made him promise not to let Alabaster tip over any chairs, eat any crayons, tickle any toes under the table or any other elf shennanigans he might do. Since Jack promised, we let him take Alabaster to Sunday School.

During church, the pastor talked about how the hustle and bustle of Christmas and all the preparation and cleaning, and shopping and baking sometimes let's us forget about the true meaning of Christmas. It reminded us that we have so much to be thankful for in our lives. That Christmas is a time to reflect on how we live our lives, and how we can be better people, friends, neighbors and family members. It is a time to give to others and help fill other's lives with love, abundance, joy and happiness. The Elves taught us a good lesson today- one that we should try to remember all year long.

Then, after church Jack promptly told us that we were also taking them to Ana's basketball game. So- we had some tag-a-long Elves with us all day long to remind us of what Christmas is all about. 

P.S.   Apparently Todd and I are on the "Naughty List" for not letting the kids go and see Santa's reindeer and also for not having any Christmas cookies in the house.