Elves

There are some parents who refuse to lie to their children. I believe in extenuating circumstances. Elves happen to be under that window of allowable exaggeration for me. Truth be told, I downright lie to my children about the existence and duties of elves. I feel absolutely no guilt in this regard and feel entitled to helping my children have a childhood filled with unique mystical moments and giving them the gift of imagination. At present, we have a handful of elves who are up on our roof watching us and giving reports to the big elf about the behaviors and attitudes demonstrated in our home. Our townhomes have pretty slanted rooftops and the children will often peer from our windows to the rooftops adjacent to ours watching for these mystical creatures. They are, as you may know, invisible, but that doesn’t stop them from watching and waiting to see one.

Today as we were walking Big J home from kindergarten, Mr. T was sprawled out in the wagon and suddenly sat upright and declared, pointing, “Mom! I see an elf!” The other two were immediately enthralled and our parade paused as we all gazed in the direction of the “visible” elf. “RIGHT THERE --- I can SEE it!” Mr. T was panting at this point and Big J was straining to see what he saw. Unfortunately she didn’t but she did admit to seeing the elf’s footprints on the rooftop! A few minutes later into our walk Big J stopped, pointed and screamed that she saw elves too! This time we were looking at someone’s playhouse in their backyard where two small children (wearing red jackets) were climbing on the roof of the playhouse! We were far enough away that it looked real. The magic was in the air and the cutest moment ensued when Mr. T excitedly declared, “I can REALLY see those elves!” Needless to say, if any elves were taking notes this evening, our children were being really good, for goodness’ sake!