Ellie the Elf: Day One

I am pretty sure that my overwhelming love of the Christmas season is entirely because of my childhood.  Each year, my parents made sure that all four of their kids had the perfect holiday (and still do, even though we all are grown adults).  Santa was MORE than good to us; he always went over and beyond what our wish list included, and even after the presents were opened and the wrapping paper was put away, we would find more surprises throughout the day.  But even more special than the gifts were the traditions that my mom created and that we came to know well.  One of them started each December 1st, when the “elves” would visit our breafast table each morning with a small gift for each of us and a poem at the center of the table.  Obviously, we loved it and looked forward to it each day.  We wondered why none of the other kids at school talked about what the elves brought them during the month of December, but we certainly weren’t asking questions as the goodies kept coming.

I can only hope that I can make Christmas as special for Waverly Maye as it has always been for me.  There was never a question in my mind if I would carry this tradition down to my own kids, although I have decided (at least for now) to start at the week before Christmas rather than the month.  “Ellie the Elf” came yesterday morning for the first time and left Waverly a bath book & of course, a poem to go along with it.