Countdown to Christmas – five weeks to go!

Every week until Christmas, the uber-organised Nerissa Buckell from online gifts, homewares and accessories website Crimson Tiger is sharing her tips for a stress-free festive season.

And this week, she’s sharing a fun idea to help eke out the Christmas magic a bit longer for children are on the verge of not believing (and those who still do).

Father Christmas sent us an elf

A few years ago, on 1 December, Father Christmas sent us an elf. He came with a letter from Father Christmas saying that this elf was called Ulfran and he had applied for a job at the North Pole but Father Christmas had reservations – he wasn’t sure if he was a good elf or a naughty elf.

So Father Christmas asked us if we could have him to stay and write a letter of reference on Christmas Eve to say if he was of good character.

We had so much fun with our elf! We planned the 24 nights over a glass of wine, purchased a cuddly elf from eBay and off we went. We even started up a Facebook page so friends and family could see what Ulfran got up to.

Some of the things our elf got up to

Here is a few of things we did with Ulfran (it all took place at night so the children would wake up and discover what he had been up to!):

  • He hid in the fridge one night as he was missing the North Pole.
  • He disappeared till after school one time and we found he had eaten most of the biscuits in the biscuit tin.
  • He did lines of glitter with my childhood doll (more for the adults’ amusement!).
  • He decorated the living room with toilet roll.
  • He had a snowball (cotton wool balls) fight with the teddies and the action men including their tanks and barricades.
  • He wrote on the mirror on the landing ‘Elves 4 Ever’ in toothpaste. Unfortunately the toothpaste ran on the mirror overnight and one of the boys was convinced it said ‘Elves were evil’ and had to be calmed down.
  • One night he had a party in the dining room and was found with many empty cans of lager (a friend’s husband was delighted to be given the task of finishing the cans for us).
  • Sometimes he apologised for his bad behaviour and would leave them little gifts like a DVD (the £3 Christmas movies kind) or a Christmas puzzle etc.

Our eldest was sceptical for a while, and twice he hid Ulfran from us in his room safe not realising we had the key to override the passcode and would rescue Ulfran while he slept. As a result, our eldest believed for a further two years as there was no way that elf could have got out without the aid of magic.

On Christmas Eve the boys wrote their reference to Father Christmas which I still have, and Ulfran disappeared leaving all of us new pjs.

Why not get your own elf this year?

It may sound like a lot of work for some silliness but it really was great fun and even my bah humbug husband got really into the spirit of Ulfran. The boys still chat about what they found Ulfran up to and sometimes we need to inject some Christmas magic into our lives.

So if you have younger children, or even kids that are beginning to doubt Father Christmas really exists, why not introduce your own magic elf this year? Trust me, it’s fun for ALL the family!

Looking for Christmas gift inspiration? You’ll find plenty of good ideas at Crimson Tiger.