The idea behind the tradition is that "Christmas Catherine" (this is what we named our elf), after listening and observing inside our house all day long, leaves our house every night while the kids are sleeping and travels to the North Pole to give Santa a report on how the Lapinski children have been behaving. Then, she comes back to our house just before the kids wake up in the morning. She is always in a different spot and the kids have to find her every morning. The #1, and most important rule is that no one is allowed to touch her or she will lose her magic. Sophia understands this completely and is quick to remind everyone of this.
On her debut morning, Christmas Catherine surprised the girls and brought them donuts, milk and strawberries for breakfast. She even set the table! (We NEVER have donuts for breakfast, so this was definitely a treat!).
The girls were just giggling with delight!
Choosing her donut:
The girls were in heaven ...
A note to Christmas Catherine for next year: There is no need to make a nice display of 12 donuts on the plate because my girls will insist that they need to eat every. single. one.
When Samantha and Sophia were done eating, I quickly urged them to go brush their teeth because it was almost time to leave to take Samantha to school. Sophia started to head to the bathroom and then turned around and came back to the dining room table. I questioned what she was doing, and my heart just melted when I watched her climb up into a chair and quietly whisper to Christmas Catherine, "Thank you." My little girl thanked the elf for bringing her breakfast. Yup, it was then that I knew how real all of this was to them ...
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The next morning, the girls woke up to find Christmas Catherine making snow angels on my countertop. They were amazed!
The only downside to this magical tradition is that the girls have begun waking up an hour earlier, just so that they can come and find Catherine. I have insisted that she will still be in her spot and there is no need to wake up prematurely. (Sophia gets a tad bit grumpy later in the morning when she gets up so early).
At 6 am, when I was in the shower, I heard the girls going all over the house looking for Christmas Catherine. Sophia took a brief intermission to use the potty in my bathroom and that is when I heard her squeal for Sam because she had found Catherine in the bathroom:
Sam just kept saying, "This is hilarious!"
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This morning, the girls found Christmas Catherine doing a puzzle at the coffee table in the living room. They laughed about it a little, but then I heard Sophia (in typical 2 year old fashion) fussing because it was HER sock monkey puzzle ...
A note to Christmas Catherine for next year: Maybe consider bringing her own (new) puzzle to work on???
And the tradition will continue every morning until Christmas Eve. When Catherine hears the ringing of Santa's sleigh bells, that will be her cue to head back to the North Pole where she will stay until next December ...
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