a new christmas tradition

We decided to adopt the elf on the shelf tradition this holiday season.

I don't know who gets more enjoyment out of it...me or Madden.

Every morning he wakes up sooo excited to see where Buddy's new spot is and what mischievous thing he's been up to.

And every night I rack my brain trying to come up with something more fun and creative than the day before, sometimes chuckling to myself as I position Buddy in his new spot.

Here's a little bit of what Buddy the Elf has been up to in our home these last couple weeks...

Not only is this fun, but its supposed to help motivate kids to have better behavior, because they think the elf is watching them every day and then flying back to the North Pole every night while they are sleeping to report back to Santa.

And apparently, this ridiculousness is working on Madden.

Because earlier this week, when we couldn't get him to stay in his bed at bedtime, I shouted out from my spot on the couch
"BUDDY!  MADDENS NOT GOING TO BED!  YOU BETTER TELL SANTA"

To which Madden, immedaitely sprinted back to his bedroom, jumped in his bed, and then started bawling hysterically.

Poor kid.

It seriously devastated him to think that Buddy was going to bring a bad report back to Santa!

I felt bad so of course I went in there and comforted him, and then he had to watch me tell Buddy that Madden WAS being a good boy after all and going to bed and to make sure and report THAT to Santa.

Then later Randy and I laughed our heads off about it on the couch.

Too mean??  Or totally genius???