Chip had a very warm welcome this year. This kids were so excited to see him and see what fun shenanigans he was going to be up to. Harrison asked me every night if I thought the army men were going to tape him up to the wall again like last year. Apparently that one made a lasting impression.
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| He showed up on Harrison's birthday, like always. |
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| fishing for goldfish |
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| hello down there |
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| enjoying some miniature pancakes |
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| Tic-tac-toe with Belle |
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Chip in drag Princess Chip riding a pony! Rick had fun with this one. At any rate, Harper LOVED it. |
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| and of course Harrison loved this one. Darth, using the force. I laugh at what Sydney must be thinking here. |
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| This was my favorite. I had fun with this one. |
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| Legos SO aren't just for kids. |
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| I see you! |
I know a lot of people complain about the Elf on the Shelf. About how it's extra work and not related to Christ and so on. And I know there are also a lot of people go over the top with it. I personally think it's fun toy, but we definitely don't stress about it. There were many nights where he just moved to the mantel or counter. There were even some nights he didn't move at all. We aren't huge about the whole naughty or nice list (although we've definitely used it a few times). But we also don't reward bad behavior with fun activities. There were several days where the kids wondered why Chip didn't move, and we explained that when they have bad behavior he's too tired and doesn't feel like doing anything silly or fun. And on really good days, he was their cheerleader. He left them several post-it notes of positive encouragement. I think he's a fun little dude and there were probably some days where Rick and I had more fun with his shenanigans than the kids did.
CASE IN POINT:
The kids went to my mom's house when we had the company Christmas party. I came out of the shower and found that Rick had had a little
too much fun. Yes, folks, Chip Chesney wrote a suicide note and then hung himself. The note reads,
Dear Children, due to very poor behavior, I can no longer go on. Hope you are happy with yourselves. Love Always, Chip Chesney. You'll either find that hilariously funny or absolutely disgusting. I, for one, found it hilarious. Especially the fact that a grown man voluntarily spent 20 minutes playing with a doll when the kids weren't even home. Ha! He really got into the Elf this year. Which is quite adorable if you ask me.
Now, OF COURSE we didn't leave him like that for the kids to see. It was just a little adult humor. After getting a lots of laughter out of it, Chip miraculously came back to life and settled in on the bar as a paparazzi. I had my mom text me pictures of the kids while they were at her house and I printed them out. They were concerned that Chip wouldn't know where they were when they weren't at home, but clearly he found them and photographed them while they were sleeping to prove it. Thankfully they are too young to find it creepy. Haha!
On Christmas morning he is always at the nativity admiring baby Jesus. We do lots of fun things around the holidays but my kids have no question about why we celebrate Christmas.
Santa always leaves a thank you note for Jesus' birthday cookies and the toys they donated. He also lets the kids know that before Chip has to leave, they get to have 1 day where they can play with him.
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| Telling Beda all about Chip's adventures |
He may or may not have forgotten to fly away Christmas night. Oops! Thankfully it was only Harper who noticed him still hanging out the next day. She's much more gullible than her brother and didn't ask any questions. See you next year, Chip!
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