Nipper Twinkletoes

Meet Nipper Twinkletoes.

Shawn bought Kyndall 'The Elf on the Shelf' last year for Christmas so that we could begin it as a yearly tradition this year. I decided to make Nipper a girl elf by putting a bow in her hair and giving her a skirt!
Ah, much better!

It is customary for your child to name their elf when he arrives and since Kyndall is not able to do so, (and we really don't think 'hot dog' is an appropriate name, which she probably would have called it) we put her full name into an elf-name generator online and this is what is spit out: Nipper Twinkletoes!

It was perfect!

If you are not familiar with how the elf on the shelf works, here's a quick run-down. The elf is supposed to arrive around the time of Thanksgiving. His sole responsibility is to watch the child's behavior and report it to Santa each night when he returns to the North Pole. The next morning when the child wakes, they discover their elf has returned from the North Pole and is now resting in a new and different place. To better preserve his mystique the children are not allowed to touch him but talking to him is a different matter all together. Once Kyndall is older and can better understand, we can remind her "the elf is watching and will surely tell Santa tonight" if she is displaying inappropriate behavior.

The elf comes with a book and we are going to read it to Kyndall every night before she goes to bed along with all her other Christmas stories. The book tells the story of the elf to the child and what he does when he is gone at night to the North Pole. Kyndall might not understand right now but we are laying the foundation for a wonderful Christmas tradition in the years to come. For now, she enjoys telling Nipper "nighe-nighe" and trying to find her every morning in her new location. We ask her "Where's Nipper?" and she will start walking through the house, looking up, for her little elf. We usually have to help her but she gets really excited when she finds her.

Nipper will return to the North Pole (read: the store box she came in, in a Christmas tote with the book, in our attic) the day after Christmas and will return on Thanksgiving next year!  I love family traditions!