Can I share this christmassy thing?

[SaggyAndLucy]

Elfie's Christmas Letters
I posted this in chat and got told to bog off to Christmas. (Which is ironic because its usually me who says that!)
In the interest of having a new baby and trying to reignite my interest in what is usually the highly depressing festive period, I REALLY love this idea.
This isnt my company, btw, before anyone or
I just think that this is a lovely idea. A letter a day in December, the opportunity to have some fun with the hiding, delivery, build the anticipation a bit...
I cant wait for Lucy to be old enough to enjoy this.

Oh Im sorry saggy!! I luffs xmas just feeling the punch and worried about paying for it all

I don't think you come across as snidey OP, but I you do seem to be overselling this product. It is a nice idea but I know by 7th December I'd be dreading the letters & I'm sure my DCs wouldn't read all 24 of them. Maybe 4 letters, once a week in the run up would be more workable? (And better priced-I'd consider signing up for that).

my elf didn't rerun to the North Pole every night last year either
I'm a bad mother.

You can't be poor if you have £35 to spend on elf letters you could make yourself.
It's September, it doesn't matter if you are underwhelmed about Xmas ther are 3 months to go.

Maybe the fact that I'm poor is why I'm starting in September!
Talk about judgemental!
Do you never save up to do special stuff with your kids?!
FFS! its like the Doghouse in here!

I think you confused what I meant in my post about my teacher friend.

Their parents DO do Christmas.

The problem is they do different things. Child A has an elf on the shelf who does a Christmas treasure hunt every morning. Child B has an activity advent calendar. Child C has Father Christmas leave stockings and nothing else. Then they all have sensory overloads and tearfully demand explanations off my friend! The great thing about our childhood Father Christmas was that in general the tradition was universal.

(Unless you did understand and think that just doing Father Christmas is doing nothing...

(I live in the Basque Country so I have this problem anyway with Olentzero... maybe you know him elquinto !)

I go overboard for Christmas, I really do. I have Christmas music on my iPad during my morning showers from September. I start shopping in August. I am terrible. But, I keep this away from DC because I don't want to overwhelm him. Also, when I first heard of elf on the shelf, I thought it was brilliant and fully planned to start when ds was old enough. But on reflection over the last few years, I think believing a small wooden toy comes alive at night, spies on you, travels back and forth to the North Pole etc, is believable for a shorter time than the legend of Father Christmas. Part of FCs magic is that he is unseen. Like god, maybe.

I think this is Mnet at its worst and one of the reasons I don't post that frequently, I have been recovering from an illness and have checked in more than I normally would.

The OP posted about a lovely idea that she thinks is great, it isn't cheap but that is all relative.

Parents who do bother and who want to spend whatever resources they can on making their family Christmas what they want it to be can't be made to feel bad for the parents who don't bother and may even have other priorities, we are all different.

Seriously, live and let live, a lovely innocent Christmas thread derailed.

What a bunch of grinches!!!!

Lovely idea OP and don't let anyone put you off about expense. We are hardly talking Lapland for a week are we.

I hope you and your DD have a lovely Christmas

I'm sorry OP if I came across grinchy.

I initially read your comment as not doing elf letters/ elf of the shelf = not doing anything for your kids, and took umbridge, because I try v hard for Christmas to be magical and elf-free!

My reasons for not doing EOTS/elf letters are in part influenced by my friend's experience teaching reception. It doesn't mean you can't do whatever you want to do to make your DCs Christmas special.

no! I didn't mean that at all!!
maybe I'm just all over excited! my other dcs are late teens and Christmas has become one big drag tbh.
I get the chance to start over!
I've never seen anything like this before, barely heard of elf on the shelf. it grabbed my attention. I just wanted to share, I wasn't implying that anyone was a bad parent!

Mal I'd love to go to Lapland.

Ahh me too. Although (totally risking outing myself) I used to be a Lapland elf, and still have photos of me with Father Christmas, so might tell DS I have a direct connection to FC....

I dont think you were being snidey either, I can see why people might like it

The comment about parents who 'bother' irritated me though. I probably wouldnt have done this kind of thing when DD was small (and def not elf on the shelf) but its nothing to do with parents bothering, its about personal choice...

I Think I read Umlaufs comment incorrectly, Folly regarding patents who don't so stuff. If it came down to 'bothering' I'd have been shot against the wall years ago!

Umlauf Basque DH remembers Olentzero but we're in Catalunya now, so have the delightful Caga Tío for DS!

On 5th January we go to Barcelona zoo and then watch the 3 Kings parade. Then open.more presents on 6th.

I think the holidays are packed enough. Plus £35 is about 1/3 of the budget for DS' presents I suppise I coukd write my own letters from Santa/Mrs Claus/Elves/Rudolph etc..

OP, other ways I've read about in MN to make things feel extra special are:

Santa footprints/Rudolph prints leading to the presents, made of flour.
Tealights up the garden path like 'landing lights' for Santa's sleigh.
Christmas Eve Hamper: box with jimjams, xmas dvd and hot chocolate on the bed after dinner

Etc.

There's plenty to do. I hope your DD enjoys Christmas magic every year

(Caga Tío: A log with a happy face and a red hat, you hit him with a stick and he shits - caga - small presents and sweets).