Christmas Traditions: Secret Elves
I love our children’s library!
We bustled into it last night, deposited our customary 30-odd books from last week, and checked out the Christmas book displays. Momentary guilt hounds me if I take more than two or three of the featured holiday stories, but several titles snagged my attention…so I figured, it’s only for the next week!
Three year old daughter trotted over to the bird cage to say hello to “Alpha” (”Bet” died last year, and poor Alpha stands alone) and I thumbed through a sweet story…First Grade Elves by Joanne Ryder. Had a fleeting thought that this book might spark a new family tradition and tucked it into my canvas tote. I soon forgot all about it.
Today my two oldest daughters devoured most of the books we’d checked out, and I came from the laundry room to find them snipping out delicate snowflakes. You see, the first grade elves in Mrs. Lee’s classroom had the great idea to plant nice surprises for each other during the month of December…in celebration of Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. With the secret surprise, they also left a small paper snowflake…to show that the Christmas Elves were behind the treat.
So, I guess my girls and I think alike…and we now have a new secret “angel” (they preferred that over elves) December tradition. A fat stack of 4″ diameter snowflakes rests on the corner of one of my end tables…
I thought I’d share it here, because it would be a lovely tradition for anyone, especially those of you with many children. You could assign names or just bless randomly as we’re going to do.
I’d love to know what Christmas traditions you’ve got in the works…
Comment by Amy
November 29, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
That’s a great idea Mary! btw my children love books too, encouraging their reading is the best thing out for their education!
Comment by Mary
November 29, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
I agree…and am so thankful for libraries and their seemingly endless supply of books!
Btw, glad you used your Petticoat Lane link, I’ve been wondering where it had gone!
Comment by Geri
November 29, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
My Mom did the Secret Angel thing too with us growing up…it was great and really helped us to be more “considerate” and have less arguments among us kids.
Comment by Mary
November 29, 2007 @ 10:52 pm
I never thought of that side benefit, Geri. We had fun with it today…