New Holiday Traditions

On the very first day of December, Mommy, Daddy and I decided to start a few new holiday traditions. We started up the fireplace...
And made cocoa in our favorite snowman mugs. OK, so Mommy and Daddy had the cocoa...I had milk.
This year, we got a new "Countdown to Christmas" calendar. OK, so I kind of broke the one we had last year. This one has a magnetic back and the cute little critters are magnets, too.

So we stuck it on the only magnetic surface we have in the house (our kitchen is full of stainless steel appliances) and I took off the very first magnet...

And stuck it in a bowl. Hooray, Christmas is just 25 days away!

We also started the "Elf of the Shelf" tradition.

In case you are not aware of the tradition, here's the skinny:

When you meet your elf, you have to give him a name. We named ours "Charlie." So every night, Charlie goes back to the North Pole to tell Santa Claus all about me. He tells him if I have been naughty or nice. Then every morning, Charlie comes back to our house and plants himself somewhere so he can spy on me for Santa for another day. I can't touch Charlie or he might lose his powers. I can talk to him and tell him anything I want. And every morning, I get to come down the stairs to find his new hiding place. Fun, huh?

And Charlie also came with his very own book that explains the whole thing. I had to listen very carefully.

And I pointed to all the pictures of Charlie in the book.

So I guess I have to be good this month since we have an official Santa Spy in the house. I'll just have to quit juggling knives until after the New Year.

Oh, boy, Christmas traditions are the best! Now we just have to decorate our house....