it's my girls' world

And we're in December!!!  To herald the start of the December, we had a friend who returned to visit us.... Patraj the Elf! So let me explain a little bit about the Elf on the Shelf for those who don't know. Your Elf on the Shelf is basically Santa's little helper who visits kids during the day but every night flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa if said kids are nice or naughty. The elf comes back every morning but finds himself in odd places and part of the fun is the kids finding the elf. Also, depending on how the kid behaves, the elf can bring a nice treat or stern warning from Santa. Let me say, that the Elf on the Shelf is no easy feat---- it's d@mn hard sometimes to remember.... in fact a couple times last year I kind of forgot. And some moms are really shall we say 'committed' to the process and there are many websites devoted to Elf on the Shelf ideas like this one


So our Elf is named Patraj--- a sort of tribute to our indo heritage, sort of joke... more joke really.You're supposed to name your elf whatever you want but after reading a blog where they called him Patrick, I kept calling him that. I told Darin that our elf should have more of a trini name so he suggested Patraj--- and yes folks, that's the name that stuck. My poor kids!

Here he is, waiting for everyone!

So as part of the tradition to welcome Patrick back and through reading different blogs, we decided to do a North Pole Breakfast on the first day of December. Everyone dresses in their Christmas pjs for the first time. Then Patrick returns, he brings a small present, we start our Advent calendar and activities and we have a yummy breakfast. Cassia was so excited! And then she ate a handful of chocolate chips... and then she got in trouble with Mommy Patraj and then there were tears... and then Anjali cried because the pancakes were taking too long... and then everybody ate and all was well in the house...

Opening the 1st door of the Advent Calendar

Helping to make the multigrain chocolate chip pancakes

Helping to eat them

Now it's the parents' turn to relax