day 2 eli the elf

we had a horrible wind storm yesterday.
it knocked our power out,
so we stayed over night at pete's mom's house.
we worried about eli and if he was going to be ok,
much less be able to move around.
he surprised us.
when we returned home this morning we were surprised.
the fireplace doors were open,
the parachute on the floor,
and eli was missing.
it took a minimum of  5 minutes for my boys to find him.
we combed the whole house.
sam found him in the christmas tree.
he got all tangled in the lights while trying to the eat the dried apple & dried orange ornaments.
he took a bite out of an apple ornament even!
the boys could not figure out how he got over there.
will was explaining his theory with lots of hand movements.
he accidentally touched the elf,
and sam panicked.
poor will.
it was such an accident,
but he immediately started to cry.
he was so worried that eli was going to leave.
we got that worked out with the explanation that he doesn't lose much magic with a one time accidental touch.
whew!
he had 2 messages today.
1. he had observed how much the kids like being with their mom all day and how good they were at cleaning up when she asked. he sent santa the message that a kid-sized broom and vacuum would be fitting gift ideas for these kids. the boys chuckled and thought it would be a good idea. hmmm.
2. since eli loved hanging out in the tree so much he wanted the kids to have a tree in their room, so the activity of the day was decorating small ones for their room. we accomplished that.
can't wait to see where the little guy ends up tomorrow.