It’s that time of year – you know, when our kids are all on their best behavior and the most frequent threat you hear parents utter is “Santa is watching!” The latest craze is the Elf on the Shelf. The elf moves around your home, keeping its eye on your kids and causing a little mayhem along the way. Maybe your elf plays a game with a few of the stuffed animals in the house. Perhaps it gets into your cookie jar. Maybe it even spills flour in your kitchen. No matter what, the kids know it’s watching them.
So, what if the elf was watching you and your spouse? Would he tell Santa to bring you a present or put a lump of coal in your stocking?
Nick: There is no doubt that Jen is the concierge of
Christmas for our family. I may hang the
lights on the house and on the tree, but Jen makes most of the magic
happen. I think if the elf was watching
me, he’d remind me that all the preparation can be stressful. If he caught me trying to avoid the whirlwind,
he’d tell me I should jump in and look for ways to help instead. My elf would say, “if you want any presents
from Santa, you really need to be present to Jen all season long.” He’d also say, “it would be best to bring a
glass of wine and rub her feet as much as she needs it to make it through to
Christmas.”
Jen: A friend once said to me “Husbands have it easy. It
must be nice for Christmas to just HAPPEN.” I used to take a lot of the holiday
preparation on myself. I think my elf would have asked me how much of that was
me doing it all because I thought I had to.
A few years ago, I was running around crazy in mid-December trying to check
off all the lists on my own. Nick asked me one evening what he could do to help
and it occurred to me that making Christmas magical is just as important to him
as it is to me. We went shopping together that night, and it ended up becoming
a date-night for us. I think my elf would tell me if I want any presents from
Santa, I need to include Nick in the preparations, because when he is more a
part of the shopping and preparing, he is also more appreciative of the joy of
Christmas, too.
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