It’s that time of year again …

Ok, Mama friends. I know some of you are cringing right now because it’s about time to get that pesky darn elf out again. Ha! Well, if you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know that my family and I had an elf we lovingly named, Henry, join our family back in 2011. Yep, this will be 8 years of good ol’ Henry. It was just something fun to do, a new silly tradition to pull out every year and the kids really loved it. We didn’t follow the “official” elf rules, which I think helped, and I really kept it laid back. 

What I did notice early on is that as busy Mama, I would sometimes stress about just what in the world Henry was going to do each night. I was exhausted at the end of the day (um, just like every Mama, am I right?) and so when I would go to put him somewhere before bed, I was NOT feeling creative or in the mood to deal with him. Sorry, Henry! So I decided to search Pinterest and come up with a calendar that I would use so that EVERY night I’d already have an idea for what to do. It was SOOOOOO nice to NOT have to put much thought into it at all. 

Why not let everyone ELSE come up with the cute ideas?! Ya know? My kids would never know! Ha! So that’s exactly what I did and I shared it so that other Mamas could benefit from it, too. I did that on multiple occasions and if you go HERE you can see all of the calendars that I made up + if you just do a search for Elf on the Shelf, you’ll see all of my posts about Henry and you’ll see photos of his adventures for even more ideas. 

Even though it’s been a few years since I created a calendar, I still wanted to share once again the ones I did in the past so that anyone who hasn’t seen it yet can use them. I also add ideas to my Pinterest board from time to time as well and you can find that HERE. Oh, and Henry does have a hastag, too! Ha! You can see it at #theadventuresofhenrytheelf. 

The kids found out last year that I am the one that is moving him. They were a bit heartbroken in a way, but deep down I think they already kinda knew. I told them that I would keep on moving him for a few years more since Luke is still little and they love it so much + we’re in a new house now and so there are lots of new adventures that Henry is just waiting to go on. If you want to follow along, I’ll probably share either here or on IG (kristina.proffitt). Haven’t decided for sure just yet, but you know me – I probably will. Ha!

Oh, and I just have to give a BIG shout out to my super sweet and talented friend, Leanne of The Bailey Bakery, for the super cute “Elf Cookie Kit” that she sent to me and the beautiful Elf cookie, too. Isn’t it just THE cutest?! I would have to agree. Henry was thrilled to have some sweet treats of his own since we normally don’t share with him. I’m a little worried about his sugar high though. Things could get interesting this year. You’ll just have to wait and see … pray for me. ;) 

Anyway, whether you and your family incorporate the elf of not, I pray that you find beautiful traditions old and new and enjoy it all this holiday season. 

One thing I am always sure to do is make our holidays centered around Christ – the REASON for the season. My kids know that, we focus on that and then everything else is just some fun little traditions that we do and sweet memories that we make. 

Crazy to think that good ol’ Henry has been a part of those sweet memories for almost a decade. I think we’ll keep him around for a bit longer … especially if he’s bringing sugar cookies. That’ll just make it all THAT much sweeter! ;) 

Praying you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanks for stopping by!

I’m thankful for YOU!