Christmas

As if anyone had to wonder, we had a fabulous Christmas over here at the Cornett house. Santa came, as planned, and left tons of toys for Eliot, as he's been very good this year. He got both bathtub crayons and Flippin' Frogs (the two things he asked for) as well as tons of other things - Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, books, candy... just to name a few. And that was just from Santa. A few of the other things he got (too numerous to name them all) - an easel, puppet theater, castle with little people, pez dispensers, monster puppets and a family membership to the McWane Center (my personal favorite). It's probably going to take until next Christmas to play with all of the things he got!

One point of sadness, however, in all of the merriment. Handy Dandy had to go back to the North Pole with Santa. Eliot was very distraught over the whole thing. But before he left, Handy Dandy left a wonderful surprise in Eliot's bedroom. The entire room was snow-flaked! Tons of beautiful snow for Christmas morning. And a lovely note about how much he enjoyed his stay here, and that he'd be back next year.

I've posted some pictures over in the gallery. Pretty soon I'll have to publish a new folder - Eliot's fifth year! Yep, he'll be turning four in less than a month. Oh how time flies by! Anyway, no time to get sappy now. I have to find a place to put all of these toys.

Eliot and the ferocious dragon

Eliot got some knight gear from Santa - a sword, a shield and a gauntlet. So that afternoon, naturally, we were playing "knight". We went in search of dragons. "Be very quiet, Mommy. Dragons can be very dangerous," Eliot warned. We tip-toed through the house. Lo and behold, we found a dragon, asleep on the guest room bed! "SSSHH!" said Eliot, "I see one!" So we sneaked into the room very quietly, but the dragon awoke anyway. He stretched his orange paws and glanced nonchalantly over his shoulder. Upon seeing the knight, the dragon lifted his head and let loose a ferocious and daunting bellow!

"Meow"

"Hold your ground!" I encouraged Eliot. "Don't let him see your fear!"

Eliot bravely advanced with his sword drawn. He touched the end of his sword to the dragon's tail. Realizing that the dragon would not go down easily, the brave knight stroked the dragon's back a few times with his sword. Finally, after several seconds of tension, the dragon started purring and laid himself back out on the bed, defeated.

"Well," said the noble knight, "I guess that dragon won't hurt the people now. But keep your shield, Mommy, just in case."

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Guess who had a pony at their birthday party?? LAUREN! Happy birthday, Lauren!! Also, Horray for ponies! What a great party!

Season's Greetings from the Cornett Family

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1239232273

Handy Dandy

I don't know if you've heard about these elves that you can adopt for Christmas, but apparently they are pretty hot with the youngsters right now. My sister-in-law told me all about it. Apparently, they do crazy things around your house while you're asleep... maybe they eat crackers and leave crumbs everywhere. Or sometimes they might pull all the ornaments off the tree. I've even heard that they might make cookies and leave little elf-prints in the flour. Big fun. I thought Eliot would love it. So I asked Eliot if he'd like to adopt an elf for the holidays. His answer? A big, fat, NO. "I don't like messes" he said. "What if he gets me in trouble?" I assured him it would be ok. He still said, "This makes me nervous." I finally convinced him to write to Santa. A day later, our elf arrived.

He arrived first thing in the morning, all wrapped up in our Christmas Tree garland. Eliot thought it was mildly amusing and decided to name our elf Handy Dandy (which I, for one, think is a great name for an elf.) Handy Dandy continued to do silly things around the house. Just the other morning he got out of bed and pulled all the books off the bookshelf. He picked one about Frosty and was reading it when Eliot woke up. Eliot grabbed Handy Dandy and ran to our room. "Why did you take Handy Dandy out of my bed, Mommy?" I told him that it wasn't me, that Handy Dandy was magic - he picked out a book about the North Pole, etc, etc... you know, really played it up. Eliot was completely unconvinced.

The next day, while Eliot was in school, Handy Dandy climbed off the kitchen counter and into the Christmas Tree. When Eliot got home, he accused me again. "Why did you move my ELF, MOMMY?! Why!?!" Again, I tried to tell him that Handy Dandy was magic and so forth. He rolled his eyes and went about his business.

That night I told him that Handy Dandy only stayed in our house until Christmas. I explained that on Christmas Eve, Santa would come and leave presents, eat his cookies, and take Handy Dandy back to the North Pole to spend the day with his friends and family. Eliot's response: "Well, will Santa leave a real elf instead?" "What do you mean a real elf?" I asked. "Well, Handy Dandy doesn't move his mouth. And his legs don't work. And he doesn't blink his eyes. You know, a REAL elf."

In retrospect I understand why he was so nervous about writing to Santa. I imagine when I said, "But an elf can sleep with you, and sit with you while you take a bath..." he was taken aback. I guess I would be too - picturing a little man following me around everywhere. However, Eliot's really taken to the one we have. Handy Dandy continues to do crazy things and Eliot is playing along, even if it is just to humor me.