The Elves Among Us

I live with a Christmas Elf. While this might sound exciting, it can be exhausting. Paper snowflakes already adorn my walls, Christmas lists have been made, and a countdown has been done and colored. When my elf started to make a Christmas morning schedule, I had to put my foot down…turkey, stuffing and thankfulness first. 

Mason lives with great intensity but nothing gets him going more than the approach of Christmas. As he has gotten older, the focus has shifted – albeit ever so slightly – from the receiving part of Christmas to enjoying the other aspects of Christmas. Last year was a huge breakthrough as he decided to take on the role of the Christmas elf, “schnoddle” and buy some gifts for the younger neighbors. It wasn’t quite as impactful when he then told people what he had done but hey, it’s a start.

My strategy for several years has been trying to quench his enthusiasm and intensity at least until after Thanksgiving. But, as he spends less time focusing on his own gifts and as I get more tired and unable to effectively put him off, I am trying to change this strategy. When I think about it, if he is finding joy, excitement (INTENSE excitement) in Christmas, why fight it? Christmas is full of giving, beauty and grace. I just have to figure out how to channel his energy for good and not have him try to will away the month from now until the magical day. I have to figure this out fast and I am looking for ideas. Otherwise, I will have 10 gingerbread houses and hundreds of paper snowflakes by next Friday.

Mason is not my first elf. My dad was one of the original elves I think. As an only child of older parents, he LOVED celebrating Christmas once he had a family. He wouldn’t sleep much the night before. One Christmas we awakened in the wee hours of the morning to hear a train whistle in our living room. I think he was doing a trial run of the new train that he had bought to go around the tree. Mason seems to have caught the bug from him. I am sure if he was still here he would be working in his garage building a sleigh for Mason and him and trying to find some reindeer.

If you have ideas for all this energy, send them. Heck, if you need your own paper snowflakes, let me know. We are already decking the halls, listening to Christmas music and drinking peppermint mochas. If you can beat them, join them.