So, I must admit I have cringed when seeing pics of clever places that Elves on the Shelves end up. But I just have to brag about ours, because he proved to us this Christmas that he is the absolutely best elf we could ask for.
Dipsy's been visiting us for three years now. Gabriel has always been a little afraid of him, with good reason. We never know where he'll pop up, and he seems to always be there, lurking in the shadows and watching for bad behavior. At least that is what we thought. This Christmas, Dipsy figured out a way to bust that myth and show us that he doesn't come on December 1st to start watching and reporting to Santa. He comes to make our holiday more fun! He hid in some really cool places this year, the first of which was in the kitchen the morning after Joel's birthday party, cleaning up the leftover cake and icing crumbs.
One morning Jav and I found him in our room, lounging on our big comfy red chair and reading Gabriel's Rolling Stone issue of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. Dipsy is apparently a Who fan, because when we found him he was reading the article on Pete Townsend.
We knew at this point that he loved music, just like our boys. So it was no surprise to find him hanging on the Christmas piano music, waiting for someone to play We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Then we found him on the radio in the kitchen, where he had been enjoying a Christmas music CD, and probably a tummy ache from eating all of that chocolate!
At this point, Gabriel realized that he was no longer afraid of Dipsy, and that he was a pretty cool elf. I started calling him our House Elf, sort of like Dobby in the Harry Potter books, but with nicer clothes. (ANY clothes would have been nicer than Dobby's!)
Imagine our delight when we found out Dipsy played guitar! Our wish was that he could move so that we could have heard him play. But we know that it's impossible.
I was glad the morning we found him wrapped and tangled up in ribbon and bows, because it inspired me to start wrapping presents for the whole family.
The last morning Dipsy graced us with his presence was the best of all. Gabriel's godparents got him a Toy Story train and track one Christmas. The engine puffs what looks like real smoke and it has sounds and is REALLY cool. The last two Christmases we put it around the tree, and started calling it the Christmas Train. But for some reason we just never got around to it this year, and seemed to be running out of time. I promised Gabriel we would put it up next Christmas, but I know he was a little disappointed. Imagine our shock and delight when we woke up to see the train, all put together and going around the tree on the morning of Christmas Eve. Well played, Dipsy!!!!
He truly made our Christmas magical. And I cried, just a few little tears, Christmas morning after Santa took him back home. I just hope he knows how much I appreciate him helping to make the boys realize that Christmas is not about being good for a few months before Christmas so that you can get more stuff. It's not really about the stuff at all, is it? It's the joy, the happiness, the time with your family, the making of memories, and the magic and mystery all rolled into one big package.
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