Hliflitz

On the morning of Thanksgiving, before the bustle and hum of an eventful day, we opened a gift from Grammy and Papa from New York.  From out of the package sprung our first ever Elf on the Shelf.

For those who aren't familiar, this is a little stuffed elf who comes with a story - basically Santa has sent him to sit in your house until Christmas, to report back to Santa on who is naughty and who is nice.  The kids are not allowed to touch him, and the parents must remember that every night, the elf must move to another spot.  If he doesn't move, the kids get suspicious that the Elf on the Shelf might have passed away and not gotten back to Santa that yesterday they were definitely deserving of a spot on the nice list.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the Elf on the Shelf process is choosing your elf's name.  We have a lot of people filled with creativity and opinions amongst the 5 of us, so I pulled out the boys' paper easel and we got started with ideas.

Nate threw out Rumplestiltskin.  I suggested Bazinga.  Luke wasn't a fan of either of those, so he grabbed a crayon.  His first suggested was Pahhe. 

He quickly decided that Pahhe was not a name he wanted to suggest, though, and scratched it out.  Then he got a determined look on his face, stuck his tongue out in concentration, and at the top of the Elf Name Suggestion List, wrote this:

For those who cannot make out the writing of a kindergartener, Luke suggested the name Hliflitz.  I know it seems strangely devoid of vowels, but when you step back and read it phonetically, the name is remarkably easy to pronounce.  Hliflitz.  Hu-liff-litz.  It helps to clear your throat before saying it.

Luke was very proud of the name he had suggested.  We took a family vote.  Around the room we went, Hliflitz was a unanimous selection.  Will clicked emphatically in support of the name.

Once we had agreed on the name, we registered it at the Elf website. We got a nice welcome certificate signed by Mrs. Claus herself.  Luke was shocked when we learned from the Elf Registry that Hliflitz was not on the Top Ten List for Elf Names.

 Since then, Hliflitz has been on the kitchen island, on top of the fridge, on the living room table, and tomorrow when the kids wake up, they will search and find him on the stairs. He's a busy guy... and already been TOTALLY useful in curtailing some tantrum activity...

"Don't make me have Hliflitz tell Santa about this..."