A DIFFERENT ELF ON OUR SHELF

If you regularly peruse the land of mama blogs, wile away the hours on Pinterest or walk the aisles of Target, you have surely seen the Elf on the Shelf.  

(Just in case you don’t know about this friendly little elf or want to learn more, check out the Elf on the Shelf website.)
 

I love this idea, but decided to take my own spin on it.  

Here is our elf:

Okay, so he's not really an elf, but he did travel from the North Pole and will keep tabs on our house (with daily reports back to Santa) in just the same way that an elf would.

Why will this (yet to be named) snowman visit our house instead of the ubiquitous elf?

Because $30 seems like a slightly ridiculous amount of money to spend on a book and figurine, because I like to do things my own way, because I would rather not have my child (and future children) spy "his elf" at a friend's house or in a store aisle, and because it seemed like a lot more fun to make up our own story and put our own spin on this tradition.

Sam is really too little to understand anything about the Elf on the Shelf, but I am anxious to start some family traditions with our very first family Christmas.  And even though Sam won’t be cognizant of the meaning behind our snowman, this year, I would venture to guess that when he is three, four, or five  years old he will enjoy seeing photos of his baby self  hanging out with our snowman.

Also, I think that starting this tradition this year will provide for some good adult amusement.  

Do you have an Elf on your shelf?  Do the adults in your house find it just as fun as the kids?

Note: Our Snowman came from Walmart and cost $0.97. I am looking forward to spending my $29 savings on Christmas gifts!