The best thing about Christmas...

....is having children to create the magic of the season for. This year my son is four years old and could not be more excited about all things Christmas than if I took him to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus himself. The greatest thing about my little guy is how much he believes. It is with every fiber of his being that he truly embodies the Christmas spirit. That makes it all the more fun to bake cookies, build gingerbread houses, compose letters to Santa, and indulge in the hilarity of the Elf on the Shelf. Our little elf is the first thing on my son's mind when he wakes up each morning. He is so eager to know what kind of mischief the elf has gotten himself into overnight. Here are a few pictures of our elf, Faccu and his adventures around our home. (Yes, Faccu. Don't ask). 

If you are interested to know how I made our elf able to be posed, the trick is 16 gauge jewelry wire, piped into his arms and legs. Using a stitch ripper, I removed one stitch from both the arms and legs, bent the end of the jewelry wire with needle-nose pliers (so it won't poke through the little elf) piped the wire up the inside of the arms/legs, trimmed the wire to fit and again bent the end of the wire. Then tucked the wire into the ends of the hands/feet and sewed the stitch back into place with a simple needle and thread. I then cut small pieces of Velcro to fit the size of his mittens and hand sewed the Velcro to the bottom of each hand. If you want to make him stand up, to walk the little dog perhaps, simply create a doll stand out of the same jewelry wire used to create his bendy arms and legs. Easy peasy!