Three Wise Men, an Elf, and an Angel...

Christmas is upon us! The birth of a King! I love Christmas, I can't wait. This year I have toyed with starting a new tradition. I had thought about the Elf on the Shelf for a while, but like the whole Santa thing, I don't like to tell my children they have to behave for Christmas gifts, gifts are gifts and they are given freely out of love and not conditionally. Like Christ's love. (Edited to add- this is what's right for OUR family, it doesn't mean it's right for anyone else, and it also doesn't mean that what other people do is wrong.) So I thought, well, I'll get an Elf, and she will come with a letter saying that she's just here for fun. She may do fun silly things and such. I sat the girls down and everything. Told them that we might start playing a game, just like the Santa game- they know who St Nicolas was, but like to play that Santa brings gifts even if they know DH and I buy them. I told them that our Elf would not be reporting bad behavior to Santa or anyone, that we obey and honor Christ out of love, not to get gifts, plus we all make mistakes! That's why we need a Savior, so I want them to learn that instead. They have been so excited. I even bought an Elf... it's still in the box. There's nothing wrong with Elf on the Shelf, I think all the fun ideas are so neat. I may still do our own version.

Well yesterday Pixie was playing with the Little People Nativity, Noah's Ark. I had posted a picture on FB, one of my friends said, "we have that set, just can't find the Wise Men, forget Elf on the Shelf, we're looking for Wise Men" - OK, something to that effect, but hello!? DING! DING! DING! That was perfect! I could find a Nativity just for this purpose, set it up without the Wise men, or Jesus- because we don't generally put Him in the manger until Christmas morning. Then I could move the Wise men around the house, they could face obstacles, maybe stop for food and drinks etc all month until Christmas morning they would arrive at the correct spot. For those of you saying, but the Wise men weren't even there when Christ was born, please, bear with me and don't throw a wrench into this plan! I looked all over for a Nativity that had Wise men I could pose, ask me how many affordable ones I found? One, but it was finger puppets. Sigh. So I may still do this. I think it would be so fun. And because I'm a nerd I'd call them Wandering Wise men. Go ahead and laugh.

 Still loving this idea I moved on to the Elf in the box. She's in a box, in our living room, hidden. I looked all over for a pair of wings for her. She would be our Christmas angel. She would come to our home, much like the Elf on the Shelf. She could do fun silly things, but her most important job would be pointing people to Christ and giving our children ideas on how they can share God's love. Lack of sleep has given me an awesome idea! Right? Our Christmas angel could even help the Wise men along with a star on a fishing pole. Because in my search for wings I found the cutest fishing pole. HELLO, this is all working out! Then...

I found this Christmas Angel (Stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY!) Apparently I'm not as awesome and brilliant as I thought LOL. So cute right? Stay tuned for more info on this pretty little angel, and see how she can help you teach your children more about the spirit of Christmas.

So now what?
There's nothing wrong with doing any of these, all of these, or none of these. I love all of the ideas I've been toying around with. What do you do? Something different? I'll update soon about what I've decided on, I need to pray about it first and maybe talk to the kids!
 More Christmas Angel/Elf on the Shelf posts HERE.
More pictures HERE.