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The Adventures of Sparkles the Elf
Enjoy the adventures of our Christmas elf and lots of other Christmas chat all year round.
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Elf on the Shelf ideas #5 I think Sparkles had been causing chaos and it just got too much for Santa and snowman. She got put in the tumble dryer so she couldn't do anything naughty. Elissa thought it was great fun getting the other toys/decorations involved in the magic of Christmas. She thinks that Sparkles uses her magic to bring everything to life. Love her imagination!
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Elf on the Shelf ideas #4
This one took a little bit longer to sort in the evening! Sparkles wrapped the Christmas tree in toilet roll to make it look like a giant snowman.
She reused the snowman accessories from the door snowmen on the tree.
Sparkles was very careful not to destroy my Christmas tree in the process but she did get a bit tangled up in the toilet roll.
Taking the ‘snowman’ apart took a little while too to make sure the decorations stayed in place!
Naughty Sparkles!
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This is my Christmas tree from last year. It is artificial, unfortunately I cannot have real Christmas trees in the house as I am allergic to them, plus they make such a mess and don't stay looking nice for long enough. The one thing that I love doing at Christmas is decorating the Christmas tree. Making it perfect (in my eyes) takes a little while but I take great joy in putting it up and decorating. I have every colour decorations possible I think apart from orange! I have the traditional green, red, gold but also have blue, purple, pink, white, silver, black, peach. I would love to kit my collection out with orange but I cannot find reasonably priced, nice orange decorations. I don't suppose I have helped matter with have an 8 foot tree. I put anywhere between 600-1000 lights on my tree, depending on what I'm going for each year. I once heard that the general rule was 100 lights for each foot and half of tree! So if the rule applied then I would need 500 lights. Last year I went for a silver and white look. Very simple but with lots of different decorations. Lots of different textures, sizes and shapes of decorations. Normally I put beads on my tree but I decided against it this year as I had so many other bits on there already. I don't just decorate the tree, I like to cover the stand of the tree, I think the whole image is ruined by just seeing the floor and stand underneath a beautifully decorated tree. I use snow blankets and make a snowy scene with a working train and woodland/Christmas animals. All the animals are white and normally have sparkles on them. Over the years I have had a lot of people comment on my tree about how much they like it and love how much detail is on it. My favourite pastime at Christmas is to sit in my lounge with the tree lights twinkling, I could sit and watch them for hours. I find it very relaxing.
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Elf on the Shelf ideas #3 Last year Sparkles started to miss the snowmen at the North Pole so she made our doors into her own snowmen! She made a pink one and a green one, nice happy snowmen that stayed in our house for a few days! This was really easy and can be done in advance then just stuck to the doors last minute. Simply just paper cut out into the shapes of the eyes, carrot, mouth, scarf and buttons. Masking tape to attach to doors or use blue tac.
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Going away for Christmas?
I love everything about Christmas. I love the food, the music, the general happiness that goes around, the presents, the Christmas tree and decorations, the time off work but most of all seeing Elissa enjoying herself and the magical experiences that I want her to have. Spending time with my family and seeing Elissa so happy at the most magical time of year is the most important part of Christmas for me.
One thing I would love to do for us is to go away over Christmas Day. Somewhere geared up for families, a holiday park, a log cabin somewhere!
The idea of going away and not having to deal with cooking, or at least the clearing up! Not rushing around seeing everyone over Christmas Eve/day/Boxing Day (that can wait for when we get back!).
Just being able to relax and do something different. I would of course make sure that there are lots of presents still for Elissa on Christmas morning (maybe not all of them but some). The idea of being able to go swimming on Christmas Day or having some entertainment at the park in the evening would be amazing.
When I was younger my parents took me and my brother to a cabin on a park. On Christmas morning Santa came round to visit everyone after his busy night. We went for an amazing dinner at a local pub. We had the best time, we were relaxed and together and it is something I have wanted to do with Elissa since she has understood Christmas. I will make this happen, definitely not this year as we have something much more exciting planned!!!
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This was my brothers idea of wrapping.
He has far too much time on his hands.
He is very frustrating at times but never fails to make me laugh.
I think we all know someone that would do this.
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Elf on the shelf ideas #2
This has got to be the easiest and best (for me!) idea for elf on the shelf.
All you have to do is sit back, eat chocolate and chuck the wrappers on the floor… what more could you want?!
Elissa thought it was very naughty but did notice that Sparkles had left he favourites in the box! Sparkles is very thoughtful.
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Scaling back
I was thinking the other day about starting my Christmas stash of food. It got me thinking about all the stuff I only ever buy at Christmas.
The big boxes of chocolates, Roses or Celebrations, matchmakers, Terry’s chocolate orange. Then things such as pâté. Why I don’t buy pâté throughout the year I have no idea, I love it though! Stuffing, never have stuffing with any other dinner apart from Christmas dinner!
So many things I buy for the period between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, and then throw away because they go out of date before getting eaten and i have realised that having huge amounts of food makes no difference to the Christmas we have. I have decided that I’m not stocking up like I have before I am cutting back on the food big time this year. I’ve recently stopped eating as much sugar, so the chocolates can come in much smaller quantities and I definitely don’t need the huge supplies of sweets. I have definitely been one of those people that panic buys food because the shops are closed for one day! We are definitely not going to starve!!
I normally do a buffet lunch for my parents on Christmas Day but I am scaling this back this year as well. We had cold cuts of meat, cheeses, sausage rolls, salad, coleslaw, potatoes, crisps, bread etc last year. It was far too much. Most of it went in the bin. This year I will simply have cold meats, salad and some potatoes. I’m not going mad I might as well put my money in the bin.
Elissa doesn’t talk about the food, that isn’t the exciting bit of Christmas to her. So I’m going to focus on the other stuff and not get so stressed out about it.
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Elf on the shelf ideas #1
This one I have done two years straight because it always has the best reaction with Elissa. She thinks it is really funny that Sparkles puts knickers on the Christmas tree!
We have a rule in my house that no one touches my Christmas tree! The Christmas tree is what brings me the most joy so anyone that fiddles with it gets their hands chopped off (obviously I wouldn’t actually cut their hands off!).
Sparkles got put on the naughty step the first year for doing this and Elissa very carefully removed the knickers from the tree. The second time Sparkles got no cuddles from Elissa as punishment!
I am going to do something along the same lines this year but include socks and tights and spread them more round the house, make them into decorations on string etc. As we have three elves coming this year everything has to be bigger and more chaotic!
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Few surprises for Elissa this year
I have done elf on the shelf for two years now and last year I was struggling to think of age suitable ideas for Sparkles to do that I hadn’t already done and that were actually exciting that didn’t take hours to prepare. Let’s be fair I work full time, I am a single mum, I have housework that needs sleeping (boo!), I need sleep and I definitely don’t have hours each evening to prepare these things. As much as I want Elissa to have the most magical Christmas I need to be realistic. I want to share some quick yet effective and exciting ideas with everyone.
So this year I am introducing two new elves. The idea is that Sparkles is training them and they are learning what to do, so expect some madness. I have got a whole load of new ideas that I can do with three elves and the planning is coming much easier than it did previously. I will introduce the elves properly later in the year…
This year the elves antics are going to be bigger and better and I’m very excited about getting started.
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Christmas Trips, we do loads of them and I’m always on the look out for something a bit different! Some free, some that cost, this one we have done twice. The Nene Valley Railway put on a steam train event called the Santa Special, the train runs between Wansford to Peterborough and back.
The event is fantastic, you have to be there an hour before your allotted time but there’s plenty to keep you entertained, visit Santa in his workshop, of course get a present, entertainment from a band playing carols and a magician. The excitement starts when the train pulls into the station.
Depending on what tickets you purchase you either get to have the train ride or have the train ride with food. The train journey is around an hour, food is served (and is quite good!), drinks are served (alcohol available for adults!), mince pies, sweets for the children (although they allowed me to have sweets as I don’t like mince pies!). A clown goes between carts to entertain the children and Santa makes a visit again on the train.
The only issue with this event is the parking, this is generally on the road, but it’s not a major problem and definitely wouldn’t put me off booking here again.
The prices I feel are more than reasonable and there are ways to make it a little more special if you want to. At the beginning of the Christmas period range from £15-£34 or later on in December between £20-£40. Food costs extra at £25/£35 feeding 2-4 people. The staff work tirelessly to make the event run smoothly and as stress free as possible. I am very happy that this is on my doorstep.
I love the pure joy in Elissa’s face in the picture above, even if Santa is blurry! This is what Christmas is about, happy children!
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What is elf on the shelf?
Many people ask me what is the craze about? Why do I bother? What's the point? Elf on the shelf started as a story, a story about children who receive an elf, they hide in the children's home and then report back to Santa whether their children have been naughty or nice. In the story it is said that if you touch the elf then it will lose its Christmas magic. Each day the child has to find the elf as they may be in different places. In the last few years elf on the shelf has developed and has become a lot more popular. The original scout elves are still very popular but more and more families have alternative elves who visit them. Everyone seems to have their own views on what the elf does/doesn't do. Whether the children can touch the elf etc. In our house we don't worry about the rule from the book, where you aren't meant to touch them. Sparkles is a rag doll style elf and is very cuddly. Elissa will find Sparkles each morning after she has returned from the North Pole reporting back to Santa on the previous days events and then she doesn't leave Elissa's hands for the rest of the day. Sparkles has normally made a mess, eaten all the goodies, caused chaos with the other toys or destroyed something! The joy seeing Elissa so excited each morning to find Sparkles is amazing, I love that Christmas is so magical for her. The only rule we have is that Sparkles isn't allowed to go to bed with Elissa! She has to be left downstairs; how is she meant to get back to Santa if Elissa has her in bed? Sparkles can't just magically disappear as she may disturb her sleep!! I do it because I want to make Christmas as exciting and as magical as I can for as long as possible. I want to pass on my love for Christmas to Elissa and make her understand the true meaning of Christmas. Of course Elissa's behaviour is always good when Sparkles is about, she doesn't want Santa knowing if she has been naughty!! We love it so that is all that matters! I do have a lot of friends on Facebook that follow Sparkles antics and if photos don't appear fairly quickly in the morning then I get asked where she is/what she is doing!! I'm not the only crazy one out there!!
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Everyone meet our elf, this is Sparkles. She was sent from Santa to our house in Peterborough 2 years ago to cause chaos! She is most loved by my daughter Elissa (5). December is full of fun and games when Sparkles is around. Before this years antics begin I will share some of my favourites from the last two years!
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