North Pole Breakfast

The boys woke up this morning to a very special surprise.

 Someone new had come to visit...

...and brought with him a very delicious breakfast.

Do you see him?

Meet Bingo.

Our Elf on the Shelf.

:)

I was first introduced to the Elf on the Shelf by my cousin, Megan, who began the tradition with her family last year.  Since then, I have seen a ton of ideas online involving this little sneaky guy, and I really wanted to begin this tradition with our boys.

The idea is this:

This little elf visits us every day, leading up to Christmas.  Every day he observes the boys' behavior, and then every night, he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa whether the boys have been naughty or nice.  He then returns to our home, and the boys need to find him when they wake in the morning as each day he'll be in a new spot.  There are two things that excite me about this little elf: 1) the idea that he just might cause some improvements in the boys' behavior, and 2) taking part in the mischief he himself will get into while the boys are asleep.  Stay tuned for that. :)

And for those interested in all the details...

I purchased The Elf set (doll and book) at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago, and have since started scouring the internet (read: Pinterest) for Elf ideas.  I found this breakfast idea, and after returning home from Iowa for Thanksgiving, threw our breakfast together in one night.  With a quick run to the Dollar Tree and Target, I had everything I needed to pull together our own North Pole Breakfast!  

Snowman and reindeer donuts.

Small buckets full of candy, and a canister of hot cocoa mix.

 Santa mugs with marshmallows inside, for the hot cocoa.

 Peppermint striped cups with crazy straws for the boys, along with a small gift for each of the boys.

When the boys ventured into the dining room for breakfast and discovered all of this, Drew said, "What's this stuff doing here?"

Our Elf had left a card for the boys, which read:

Reed was thrilled by all of it.  Admittingly, it could have been all the candy.

I think Drew was a little confused---or maybe concerned---at first, but started to be convinced by all of it when we began brainstorming names for our new friend.

Some suggestions: Relph (the Elf), Herbert, Wally, Snazzy, Pluto, Clyde, Michael, Max, Fred, George.

We finally agreed on Bingo.

Catchy, right?

The boys soon dug into all the breakfast treats, and no one walked away with a stomach ache.

I did hear the boys mention Bingo's name a few times today, in reference to him "knowing" all that the boys are doing.

We'll see if they remember tomorrow. :)