Elf On The Shelf Celebrates Jesus

Raising children is hard. There are so many choices to be made, i.e breastmilk vs. formula; fastfood vs. homecooked; Jesus vs. Santa; public school vs. private school. You get my point.

As a Christ follower, I try to make each decision based on what God thinks, his Word says, and wisdom. Some decisions are easy, but others are not. Jesus vs. Santa isn't a black and white choice. Unless you're reading a different Bible than me. {insert humor here} 

This year we decided to introduce "Santa" using Jen's idea that "there's a secret to Santa, and when you think you've figured it out, come and let me know". You can read more about Jen's idea here. With "Santa", we decided to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition, but with a twist.  As Christians, we celebrate Jesus' birthday first, but also want to participate in American traditions during the Christmas season. "we are in the world, but not apart of the world"-John 17 

I decided our Elf would teach the kids about God and Jesus, by using our church's preschool biblical truths, and playing hide and seek games. This allows our children to participate in the Elf on the Shelf game, and making Jesus bigger than Santa. To get started, I created a calendar of the 5 biblical truths with notes of what the Elf would do each day, an introduction letter from Santa's elves, and laminated 5 biblical truths cards for the Elf to bring each day (God made everything; God is charge of everything; God is good; Jesus came to save sinners; God wants to talk with us). {hey, to make money, I work as a Director of Operations...it's only natural for me to make this Elf game EASY}

We've had fun so far celebrating Jesus with our Elf, Buddy! And I'll share our calendar and info for you if you'd like to download. Enjoy! {download here}