Elf on the Shelf Failure.

Yeah, you read that right.  I'm marking our adventures with Mr. Jingle Bells as such.  You see, with the holiday season this year came a visit from our good friend, Mr. Jingle Bells.  We adopted our Elf on the Shelf last year as a fun tradition to look forward to every Christmas. Thanks to Pinterest, I have been looking forward to our visit.  Since this is our second year with Mr. Jingle Bells, I opted to keep it easy and do a few creative searches on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the month of December before Christmas.  The rest of the week would be just a simple "Where is Mr. Jingle Bells Today" search.  

For the creative days, I made sure to find ones that my four year old would enjoy. I pinned many pins and organized my thoughts... but never did I think I would have the reactions Kingston has given me with each and every creative day.  

Let me break them down for you: 

• Day 1: Mr. Jingle Bells is here, bringing donuts to celebrate.  Kingston smiled.  And kind of just stared at him next to our Santa figurine.  He then clarified that Santa brought cookies, the elf brought donuts. 
• Day 6: Mr. Jingle Bells goes potty before Kingston.  Sure to get laughs, I thought.  Then I hear from the hubs that Kingston explained to him exactly how it went down.  How momma swirled the green coloring in the toilet and how he could find it in the pantry to show daddy, if he really wanted to know how it was done.  Keep in mind, I set our elf up well after Kingston has fallen asleep and without saying one word while doing it.  Yikes.
• Day 7: Mr. Jingle Bells is held hostage by Kingston's super heroes.  What a flop.  Upon seeing this, Kingston tells the hubs that his action figures don't move.  Ouch.
• Day 8: Mr. Jingle Bells goes fishing... for crackers, as Kingston tells me.  Hmmm.
• Day 13: Mr. Jingle Bells makes a snowflake on our dining room table.  Or a spiderweb, Kingston says, somewhat unimpressed.  Come on! 
• Day 14: Mr. Jingle Bells plays Skylanders (not pictured).  Skylanders are pretty much Kingston's most favorite thing in the world right now.  After the reactions I was getting, I thought for sure he would like this one... but he didn't even react.  In fact, I don't think he noticed Mr. Jingle Bells was "playing Skylanders" until I pointed it out... after Kingston had yanked the control from underneath him and started playing himself.  Eh.
• Day 15: Mr. Jingle Bells wishes Kingston a "Merry Christmas" with a balloon on our holiday card display (not pictured).  Okay, Kingston was sort of excited about this one.  At least about the balloon.  

This coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be my last creative attempt to impress Kingston with Mr. Jingle Bells.  We'll see how it goes.  Do you do Elf on the Shelf?  How is it working for you - and is your preschooler also a semi non-believer?

Maybe it will go a little better next year.  Or maybe I'll just wait to work my magic on Cole... one of my boys is sure to think Mr. Jingle Bells is pretty magical, right?