For Kids on the Nice List

Living so far away from any family members, my husband and kids and I have to create our own holiday traditions. For Christmas, these include driving around at night to look at holiday lights, leaving cookies out for Santa, and going to church on Christmas day. Yes, we are that family that our church friends see once a year. Where else are the kids going to wear their special outfits?

I'm hoping the creative little dolls from Elfing Around will help us create another fun Christmas tradition. The dolls are elves that come to visit children during the 12 days leading up to Christmas, and then travel back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas day. During the 12 days, the elves get into elfin trouble at night. In the morning, the children wake up to discover the elves have been having magical adventures while they themselves were sleeping. For example, the dolls are found in front of the TV with a bucket of popcorn and a DVD case. They had an awesome movie night last night! Or as in the photo above, they spent the night reading books with a flashlight!

Here's what I love about this particular doll: it comes with a book of ideas. You can certainly take any old doll and stick it in weird places and say "Oooh! I wonder how that elf got stuck up in the Christmas tree!" but the Elfing Around dollmakers actually did that thinking for you, an extra step that I appreciate during this busy time of year. While your children are sleeping, you simply follow the plans that the included Parent Adventure Guidebook gives you, and voila. Magic happens every morning, 12 days in a row. You cap off the elves' visit with a note on Christmas day next to the empty cookie plate that tells the children that the elves will be back next year.

Despite my insistence that we only need one elf doll, the company sent me one for each of my children. Since the boys are prone to fighting over every scrap of plastic that enters the house, I am glad they had that foresight. The dolls are adorable and soft, and I have no doubt that my kids will love them. That doesn't even matter. I love them! And if I just keep doing the same thing every year, then it becomes a tradition by default.

One lucky commenter will be visited by an elf doll starting this year! Leave a comment here and include a working email address (if you don't your comment won't qualify, home pages don't count) to be entered into this giveaway - open until November 30, 2009 at 3:00PM Pacific Time. Winner will be chosen at random to receive one elf doll in time to make mischief during the 12 days of Christmas.

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