Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 26-29

Well, we made it.  This is the home stretch. I'm sure you are just as ready as I am to be done with moving our Elf around so much.  Our house is a decent size, but I have run out of places to set him up. Next year I think I can get a little sneakier about where he is hiding and make it a true hunt!  But, until then...here are the last few days of Turkey's adventures.

DAY 26 - BALLOON FILLED ROOM - LOVE

Turkey is caught red handed. He filled the boys' rooms last night with balloons! The great thing is that today is M's birthday!! So Turkey got to help create more fun for M and he loved it!

I love how you can see a little unsuspecting M sleeping in his bed!  One day I'll be able to show him this picture, but it is just too sweet for my heart! I just love our kids!

Turkey's letter today taught the boys about love and the different attributes of love.

DAY 27 - UNDERWEAR ORNAMENTS? - ORGANIZATION

Okay, again, anything that involves underwear just gets the kids giggling all day long.  I knew that they needed to laugh again so this is what Turkey did today!

Oh my goodness Turkey!  What have you gotten yourself into?  The great thing about this is that Turkey's letter encouraged them to CLEAN UP!! That's right! Read it here below.

So now, hopefully they will put their clothes away when asked. Then maybe there won't be any underwear left out for Turkey to steal. One can only hope.


DAY 28- DECORATING THE TOILET - LIGHT OF THE WORLD

And just like underwear helps to get the giggle out, anything with the bathroom is equally as funny!  Today, Turkey used the light saber lights left over from M's party to decorate the toilet!  Don't worry, he's covering his eyes, so he won't see you if you need to use the restroom.

Turkey also left some really fun Scavenger Hunt Sheets for us! Another one of our traditions is to go around town and check out the Christmas Lights display.  Turkey found these sheets for us so we can have a little family competition in the van as we look!  It was really fun!

You can head on over to Somewhat Simple to download these hunt sheets for free!!  Such a great idea Turkey!!

Turkey's letter today taught the boys about how we are the light of the world. This world that we live in is a really dark place and unfortunately it seems to be getting darker and darker as time marches on. However, as Christ Believers, we are lights in the darkness.  God asks us to share that light with others so that they too might be rescued from the darkness of sin.

DAY 29 - CHRISTMAS EVE -GOODBYE TURKEY

It has finally come.  It's time to say goodbye.  Tomorrow morning when the boys wake up, Santa will have come and there will be presents under the tree and the stockings will be stuffed full. Turkey wants us to remember why we celebrate Christmas to begin with. Not for the presents, but because of a Baby.  The best Gift the world has ever known.

Turkey's letter is a sweet but sad one.  We have to say good bye to him until next year.

The kids are sad as always, but love the fact that they get to touch him and hug him before he leaves.

Thanks Turkey for showing us a little bit of who God is again this year and how we can strive to be a little more like Him too by following the Scriptures and lessons in the Bible. Let's just hope that these lessons hang on and the kids remember how important Christmas really is and what the real Gift is.

I hope you have enjoyed these posts and I hope that you can use some of these to teach your kids about the real meaning of Christmas.  Comment below to let me know how your kids reacted to their Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf!

This year was such a success, I have NO idea what I'm going to do for next year! Seesh!! I'd better start brainstorming!!

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 7-9
Days 10-13
Days 14-17
Days 18-21
Days 22-25
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 22 - 25

Welcome back!  We're in the home stretch!  Just about 8 more days to go of moving and changing the elf and teaching the kids important character attributes. So let's just jump right in!

DAY 22 - TURKEY READY FOR BATTLE - ARMOR OF GOD

Today, Turkey is ready to go to battle against all the sin and temptation that he will struggle with today.  He has on the full Armor of God!

Turkey found one of his dino friends and decided to pretend he was a horse.  He also is making good use of that light saber from the party yesterday!

Turkey's letter goes over how we can put on the full armor of God everyday to protect us and help us win against sin and temptations that fight for our attention every day.

He also left this adorable coloring sheet for them to color on!

DAY 23 - SPIDEY ELF - GIFTS FOR FAMILY

Look at Turkey! He's Spidey Elf! 

Again, I used the masks I printed out from a Pin and attached it to Turkey's face using my ever so handy glue dots! Then I scrunched him up and hung him by a string so that he'd hang upside down. Since G's favorite super hero is Spiderman, this was a huge hit!

Turkey's letter today is a fun one!  He explains that just like he is a sneaky little Spidey, we should have a little fun being sneaky today too!  He asked the boys to go to the Dollar Store with mom and dad and secretly pick out gifts for everyone in the family.  We gave them each $5 and told them they needed to get gifts for their brother, mom and dad and then after they have picked them out, they can check out and hide their gifts.  Later when we came home we let them wrap them themselves and put it under the tree.

It was such a joy to see them so happy to give and so proud of the gifts they had chosen for everyone.  Christmas morning was very special and hopefully encouraged them to be just as excited about giving as they are about getting.

DAY 24 - MOVIE NIGHT - THANK YOU NOTES TO TEACHERS

Turkey had a wonderful night watching a great Veggie Tales Holiday Movie!  Later that evening, we watched the movie again as a family! Such a cute little flick!

Turkey's letter today encouraged the kids to write Thank You Notes to their school teachers. Yes, we are STILL in school!  Our District practically goes right up until Christmas Eve...depending on how the days fall.  It's pretty ridiculous, but at least they're not at home begging to open presents yet!

DAY 25 - TMN-TURKEY? - PAY IT FORWARD

Our boys love the Ninja Turtles!  They thought it was hilarious that Turkey went on an adventure at night.  Did they fight crime? Did they leave surprises for the city? Did they have a dance party? No one will ever know because they operate in secret!

Turkey's letter today explains that sometimes we are asked to do things and not receive the credit for them. In other words, we are to act like secret ninjas! Turkey asked us to go to a drive through today and pay for the person's meal in the line behind us. Of course, we wouldn't get any credit for that, but that was the idea. It was nice to do this with my kids in the car. I do think it's so important to show them that we can serve others in secret as well and it is more about them, then it is about us.

Just a few more days!  We are under a week left of Turkey Adventures!

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 7-9
Days 10-13
Days 14-17
Days 18-21
Days 26-29
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 18-21

DAY 18 - BAKING COOKIES - NO COMPLAINING

So remember Day 17 and how Turkey asked the boys to stop complaining? Or at least be more aware of it? Well, it doesn't always work that way, so I figured the kids needed another reminder about the verse...afterall, it is a very important one.

Turkey is hungry for cookies too it looks like!  Secret agenda though...later on this week, Turkey will ask the boys to do something special with those cookies! Too bad they can't eat them all! My kids love cooking with me in the kitchen, and I can agree that the feeling is mutual!  It's so fun to put all of our aprons on and get messy sometimes.

Turkey's letter today talked about No Complaining...again.  Hopefully by hearing it twice it will start to sink in.

DAY 19 - CAROLING TO NEIGHBORS - COOKIE GIFTS

So remember when we baked those cookies yesterday?! Well Turkey has an idea of what to do with them.

 It is a tradition of ours every year to go caroling around our neighborhood.  We usually use the opportunity to put together a little cookie pack with our church's Christmas services stapled to the bag.  That way, we not only have fun as a family, but if people are looking for a place to celebrate Christmas, they have some info.  We don't actually say...come to our church...because we really want the focus to be on just making people smile with some Christmas Cheer!

DAY 20 - HOT WHEEL REINDEER - THANK YOU TO MAIL CARRIER

Today, turkey wanted to pretend to be Santa and ride in a sleigh with some reindeer.  All of those options were not available, so he had to improvise with a mug and some Hot Wheel Cars.  I just wrapped a pipe cleaner around each car to make "antlers." It was a hit with the boys.

Turkey's letter today was another one of making someone feel special.  Hopefully there are still some cookies left, but most likely after today there won't be. Turkey asked the boys to write a thank you note to our mail carrier to thank him for working extra hard this season!

DAY 21 - GLOW BRACELETS - WONDERFULLY MADE

So remember when I said that the boys have winter birthdays?  Well today just happened to be the date of his party!  He was having a Glow-in-the-Dark Star Wars theme and Turkey wanted to join the fun as well!

Again, same masks as before and just glue dotted on Turkey's face.  Plus I made him a little light saber from one of the bracelets and then suspended him from the dining room chandelier.  It was lots of fun and all the party guests loved it!

The letter today talked about how we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.  I wanted to make sure the boys remember that God made them both unique and special and they are not a mistake, but a vessel to be used by God to show His glory and grace for everyone who wants it.

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 7-9
Days 10-13
Days 14-17
Days 22-25
Days 26-29
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 14-17

Hello!  We are about half-way through Turkey's adventures!  This was a long season this year and my boys are loving every minute of it! They love their elf so much!

DAY 14 - PAPER CHAIN - PATIENCE

It's about this time every December that my boys start wondering how close we are to Christmas Day.  So this year, Turkey decided that they needed a visual reminder so they don't keep asking mom and dad.

 Turkey also decided it was a good way to teach the boys about Patience!  Remember it was one of the Fruits of the Spirit?  It is also a GREAT reminder to little kids that they can't always have what they want right away!  Good news is that we were going to the Nutcracker that night, so they at least didn't need to wait for that bit of Holiday fun! If you don't have tickets to see anything special or don't go to the Nutcracker, use it as an opportunity to do something fun as a family!

DAY 15 - DONATE OLD TOYS - GIVING

We usually end up with toy overload this time of year.  Not only do we have Christmas, but both our boys have winter birthdays!  One right before Christmas and the other right after it! So needless to say, it's the boys' favorite time of the year. They are literally swimming in their toys and many that we currently have are not played with anymore.  In steps Turkey to save the day for mom!

Turkey asked the boys to take some of their gently used toys and put them in the bucket so that we could give them away to the Salvation Army. This worked out great because not only did we get to purge a little bit, but we also switched their brain from thinking about getting, to giving instead.  Way to go Turkey! By the end of the day, our youngest was trying to get rid of his favorite toys because he thought other children would enjoy playing with them.  He has such a sweet heart, it almost brings me to tears!

DAY 16 - PLAYING GOLF - CHILDREN COME TO JESUS

My husband's favorite sport is golf, so of course I needed to somehow allow Turkey to play a hole or two. 

Who better to caddy for Turkey than Buddy the Elf?! I purchased a doll stand from Amazon this year to help with certain poses like this one!  It was a blessing to have it and didn't cost very much at all! The greens are a piece of green felt. The ball is just a crumpled piece of paper and the flag pole is a straw that I wrapped a red string around.  Again, glue dots are my friend and allowed the flag pole to stand up! I wonder if Turkey made the put?

Turkey's letter today reminds the boys about the story when the little children tried to see Jesus, but the disciples wouldn't allow them to get close.  When Jesus saw what was happening, he insisted that the little children be brought to him.  I hope that this story teaches the boys that Jesus thinks they are important too and that He loves them just as much as He loves the adults.

DAY 17 - TURKEY IS PUMPING IRON - NO COMPLAINING

Wow!  Today's topic is a tough one! First off, it is much harder than it looks to get your elf to lift weights!!

  Apparently my toothpick wasn't long enough for my marshmallow weights! It took me a long time to get the toothpick to balance just right, but it was a hit!

Turkey's letter today touches on how we should NOT COMPLAIN about anything.  That is a tough one! Especially this season since it seams like everyone keep giving my kids candy or some kind of cookie or baked good and they turn out to be little complaining and disobeying monsters! It's hard, but I just have to stick with it.  Plus, with Turkey's help, they *hopefully* will think twice before they start to complain again!

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 7-9
Days 10-13
Days 18-21
Days 22-25
Days 26-29
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 10-13

Welcome back!  I hope you are getting some great ideas about how to use your Elf to teach Biblical Values to your kid(s).  I know that I really enjoy these small devotionals that we get to have through Turkey.  It's wonderful to see my children grow in their relationship with Christ during this season!

DAY 10 - STORM TROOPER ELF - GOOD CHOICES

Today Turkey dressed up like a storm trooper.  This was super easy to do!

 I printed off the storm trooper mask from another Pinterest Elf blog and then took toilet paper and wrapped up Turkey to make his "suit." I probably used some simple scotch tape to make sure his suit wouldn't fall off, but since he can't be moved anyway, I wasn't really worried about that.

Turkey's letter today talked about making good choices and how important it is that we think about how we act and behave.

DAY 11 - PIN THE NOSE - OBEY YOUR PARENTS

Today's verse is one of my favorites since I've become a parent. Ha! Turkey has recruited some of his friends to play a little game.  It looks like he's having a lot of fun with his new friends too!

Turkey's letter today talks about obeying your parents! He also explains why this verse is so important and how God gave us such an important job as parents. Hopefully this will help the boys to know that we give them instructions to help grow them, not to be mean. One can hope!

 DAY 12 - TURKEY FOUND THE COPY MACHINE - PERSONAL GIFTS

Oh Turkey, you are such a funny elf! We had a lot of fun copying Turkey in different positions.  One of them, we made him Dab, another, he copied his booty and there were a couple more just to make the boys laugh. It worked.

Turkey's letter today talked about giving and sharing the gifts that God has uniquely given us.  Turkey encourages us to use our gifts to bless others and even allowed the boys to brainstorm on what their special gifts are.

 DAY 13 - TURKEY IN THE TUB - CLEAN HEARTS

There are tons of these pictures about Elfs in bathtubs with bubbles or marshmallows or something like that. My goal is to make Turkey's adventures as easy as possible, so this is what we did instead.

It was SOOOOO much easier to just wrap a couple of washcloths around him and set him up in the shower.  I like this way better.

Turkey's letter today talked about not only should we have a clean body, but also a clean heart.

It was a simple letter, but still had such an impact on the boys!

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 7-9
Days 14-17
Days 18-21
Days 22-25
Days 26-29
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 7-9

DAY 7 - SWEET TREAT/SLEDDING
Turkey got a little adventurous today and decided to use our stair railing as a sledding ramp.  It's a good thing he didn't fall off and break his head!  Glue Dots are the best!!

Turkey's letter today talked about how our words can either be sweet or not. He encouraged the boys to watch what they say today and to be aware that our words should be sweet just like the candy canes he left them!

DAY 8 - CANNED FOOD DONATION - TURKEY ON THE DRUMS
I originally meant to set up a mini drum set using canned goods and lids, but in my crazy Christmas Season life, I just didn't get around to it.  Good thing my kids have a set of drums from Rock Band that we could use!

I just used a rubber band and an old chopstick to make his drumsticks.  This was a hit with the boys for sure!

Turkey's letter expresses the importance of giving to those in need.  It also wishes our oldest a Happy Heart Day!  This was the 10th anniversary of G's Open Heart Surgery! That day literally saved his life and we are so grateful!  We celebrate this day every year to remind us how good God is and how He always watches over us.

Turkey asked us to donate some food to the food pantry or shelter, so we headed to our local grocery store and bought some canned goods to put in the donation bucket.  I do have to say, it is really nice to do all these actions with my boys in tow.  Hopefully this will instill in them a spirit of Service and a love for "even the least of these."

DAY 9 - SUPER ELF - READING GOD'S WORD

Today Turkey dressed up like Super Man and did his best to fly at the top of the doorway.  I just used a mask from an image scan and made him a cute little cape as well to wear. It was a hit!

Today, Turkey let us off the hook for any actual activities, but he did encourage us to read together and to him.  Plus it encouraged the boys not only to read their Bible, but then we got to talk about how selfless the little boy actually was by sacrificing his lunch to Jesus.

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 4-6
Days 10-13
Days 14-17
Days 18-21
Days 22-25
Days 26-29
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To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.

Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf - Plan 2: Days 4-6

Welcome! I really do love teaching my kids God's word and we really love Christmas so it's fun to see the boys really get into each letter that Turkey our elf brings them!  Here are some more of Turkey's adventures!

Day 4 - The Fruit of the Spirit 

He's watching you! Today, Turkey put googly eyes on all the fruit in our fruit basket!  The kids love this, they thought it was really funny!  Plus it helped that Turkey taught them about the Fruit of the Spirit today!

This was fun to work on with the boys.  It still amazes me that even though they are so small, they can comprehend so much!

Day 5 - FROZEN TURKEY - KIND WORDS
This was definitely an experiment.  Just a word of warning, you will need to set your alarm in the morning to make sure you set your elf out before the kids wake up.  Obviously you can't leave the ice out all night. We just put our Elf in a cup and poured water over him, then set the cup in the freezer. I will also let you know that it takes a while to thaw, so you might need to help it along by either pouring hot water on it or defrosting in the microwave.  This does not hurt your elf, but if you have any wire in the arms or legs, you might need to add some more after this day.

The boys did love it though.  Especially our oldest.  Since I don't have boys, I was short on my Elsa dolls, but our stuffed Olaf worked just fine! They were very excited to think that Elsa had visited last night as well though. Ha!

The letter today talks about using kind words with everyone you come into contact with. Such an important lesson for our little ones. Not a bad reminder for us as parents either.

DAY 6 - TUG OF WAR - HONESTY

Our youngest is in a phase where he is lying about small things, like weather or not he brushed his teeth or changed his underwear.  This has been a struggle recently, so I'm so happy that Turkey decided to use his power to help enforce what we are trying to teach him as well.

This one was tougher to set up than I thought.  We had to find the right size of toys and weave the twine between them but NOT knock them over!  I love how Buddy is on the ground just "holding on for dear life."  Looks like it was a pretty rough match!

UPDATE: I can happily report, that our youngest has learned his lesson!  He either grew out of the phase or took the words from Turkey and the Bible to heart. Either way, he know is less likely to lie about these little things and knows the importance of telling the truth.  Thanks Turkey!

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Check out my other Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf posts to see everything that Turkey did and taught us this year!

Days 0-3
Days 7-9
Days 10-13
Days 14-17
Days 18-21
Days 22-25
Days 26-29
------------------------------------------

To download my entire Plan 2 Elf on the CHRISTmas Shelf document click here.  There are 30 different ideas here and it is complete with all the needed supplies and pictures (minus letters)!
I am happy to personalize my letters for you and your child(ren) if you like. See my Etsy listing for 25 days of Kindness Letters that correspond with this plan.  You may always add more if needed for an additional cost.