Zeke 2011 - Day 1 - Atop the Tree

We woke up on November 27th, the Sunday on the weekend after Thanksgiving, to our very first visit from someone who would come to be a very special part of our little family.

"Mom! MOM!" Our five year old son was yelling from the living room. "There's a book under the tree! And something at the top."

Half asleep, I hurried downstairs to see.

With his arms flung around the star on the top of our Christmas tree we had just put up and decorated the day before, there was was a little guy dressed in a red suit and a pointy red hat. He had brown hair, blue eyes and pink rosy cheeks that surrounded a mischievous grin. The book beneath the tree was titled "Elf on the Shelf". We had heard about the scout elves Santa sends to families' houses to watch over them in the weeks before Christmas. We had talked about where they come from and what they do. But we had never seen one before. Could this be our very own elf?

"I think that's an elf, Isaiah!" I told him.

"I thought it might be!" he replied, excited, as his bright eyes stared at our new friend atop the tree. "I thought that's who it was but I wasn't sure!"

We talked about how Santa must have known we had just decorated for Christmas and thought it might finally be time to send us an elf. Isaiah noted the book under the tree. "Can we touch the book?" he asked. I told him I thought it was there for us to read. He cautiously approached it and once it was in his arms, he rushed to my lap.

As soon as we opened the book, our two year old son clunked noisily down the stairs, his favorite blanket clutched in his hand, dragging behind him. His eyes immediately filled with wonder as he saw us through the railing. "Whatta you doing?" he asked us as he hurriedly clunked, clunked, clunked down the last few stairs and jumped off the landing. He ran over to the couch where we were cuddled over the open book.

"We got an elf, Ezra!" Isaiah enthusiastically told him as he pointed to our new friend. Ezra didn't seem to understand but he was always up for a story, so he and blanky joined Isaiah on my lap and we finally began to read.

(Learn about the elf on the shelf story and tradition.)

We reached the part where we had to give him a name so he could get his magic. When I asked the boys what our elf's name should be, Ezra suggested that we name him Ezra. Isaiah didn't think that was a very good idea but said that our elf's name should be from the Bible since all of our names are. I agreed and began listing Bible names off the top of my head. We tried calling him some of the names but they didn't seem fitting. Daddy and our almost 9 month old son Abram joined our story time during our name conversation. On the spot, Daddy made up an odd sounding name that we laughed about and quickly nixed. We continued listing Bible names and when I said Ezekiel, Isaiah said, "That's it!" and Ezra repeated, "That's it!" (though we suspect Ez didn't exactly know what he was agreeing to as he always repeats anything said with excitement). So Ezekiel it was. And we would call him Zeke.

We spent the day talking about him, talking to him, asking questions and guessing the answers. We read the book numerous times. Ezra carried it around all day and even read it to his little brother. When it was time for bed we told Zeke goodnight and wished him luck on his first magical flight back to the North Pole.