He made is debut this year hanging on the chandelier over our kitchen table, and of course the kids noticed immediately when they came down for breakfast. During dinner we were reminiscing about what he did last year when my son started asking questions about him like how does he travel to Santa every night and when does he move and all that. Well, we just fly by the seat of our pants and make some really convincing statements about magic which seems to satisfy everyone.
Then, my son (who has historically asked great questions, many unanswerable such as 'Why does God create bad guys?) asks why he doesn't have any feet. We were stumped. Then, after staring at him for awhile, asked why he has a tag (the little white tag that comes on all stuffed animals). Oh my gosh - we were really floored and both kind of sputtered something about not knowing and the elf is magical and we just don't know for sure. After the kids went to bed we laughed pretty hard. It is a valid question - the elf should not need a tag attached to his seam. Oh well.
Everyone still strongly believes in the Elf, and I love it! It's so much fun to hear the kids talk to him - they are asking him to go to their room and to play with their toys like he did last year. Every morning they wake up and rush to put on their clothes so they can try to find the elf. Hopefully the Elf won't forget to go back to Santa's a night or two like he did last year. I think he will become a little more mischievous this year, and I will certainly post pictures when he gets in to a little trouble!
If you don't have an Elf for your kids, you must get one!! It is so much fun, and kinda keeps the kids in line - I've heard mine tell each other they better be good because the Elf is watching! Oh, what fun it is to have kids at Christmas!