Christmas Angel

Most of my friends have the adorable (or terrifying, depending on how you look at it!) Elf on the Shelf. I think I heard about these little guys when they first premiered in 2005, but figured I'd wait til my princess was a little older to buy one. Suddenly last year EVERYONE had one. At first I was horrified, then I read the story about the origin of the concept. As I Googled images of retro elves, I saw some that looked similar to the elf that my family owned. Suddenly all the memories came flooding back, and I felt a little more enthusiasm about the little helper.

 This year I thought ahead and asked Hope outright if she wanted one. She was a little interested, but admitted it wasn't high on her priority list. Of course, if Santa happened to drop one off, it had to be a girl. Later that night I found the cutest Christmas elves on Pinterest. I was planning on posting a link, but now it's broken. Go figure. Anyway, this mom's idea was to buy elves from the dollar store and have them leave encouraging notes (caught you being good!) and suggestions for acts of kindness (let's bake cookies for our neighbors!). I loved this idea so much more! I knew with a little tweaking I could make it work for our family. So I spent my Black Friday shopping for an elf, angel, fairy, anything that would work as our Christmas helper. This is what I found:

I'm going to let little miss give her a name tomorrow. Here's the poem I wrote to go with her (it's been a few years since I wrote poetry, so cut me some slack!)

I'm a Christmas Angel 

that you can see

my job is simple but,

I hope you'll join me.

I spend each December trying to find

Boys and girls, moms and dads,

who are helping others and being kind.

Each morning I'll leave a note or two

telling the good deeds

I saw coming from you.

Some days I'll leave a simple quest.

A challenge for you and your family

to share how you're blessed.

Christmas is often a time when

we're reminded of family

already in Heaven.

I know you miss each one

so whisper a prayer in my ear

and I'll carry it to them to hear.

One last thing I want you to do.

Please pick a name,

one you will treasure

a name to call me forever.

What do you think? A little less creepy than the elf?