Elves and Hippos.

Naiya wanted an Elf on the Shelf so very badly and when she found the last one at Deseret Book, she begged and batted her eyelashes and we decided to buy it for her. She named him Freddy before we even left the store, she was so very excited about getting him, I wish I could record the magic this girl portrays when she is that happy about something.
We gave him the official name of The Honorable Fredrick Vonlichtenstein and I think he has enjoyed his stay in our home. Naiya turned him into a penpal of sorts and would leave him notes, and notes to take to Santa, and receive notes in return. This is one of her notes:

It reads:
Dear Freddy, I'm glad to have you in my home. I'm allso glad that you were the last one cus I think you a the best elf. I hope you have a good Christmas!!
To Santa: I'd like to tell you that my mom Kate, thinks I shold have a hippo for Christmas becuse she is so asesed [obsessed] with the song i wanna hippopotamus for Christmas.
P.S. What does " " meen? [asking about the symbol Santa had signed her last note with].

Naiya was hilarious about this hippo thing. I do like the hippo song and had it stuck in my head all month long so I kept teasing her that she would get a hippo for Christmas and that I had told Santa that. She kept insisting that she did NOT want a hippo, she wanted a barbie dream house. She thought I was obsessed with the song but really it was just fun teasing her to throw her off the trail. I had already bought her a barbie house months ago from a lady who was selling it on an online garage sale page, and it was safely hidden away at Aunt Missy's house.
After so much hippo teasing I decided to go ahead and buy her an adorable plush hippo to put in her Barbie house on Christmas morning. I ordered it online and for some reason they cancelled the shipment and refunded our money. Luckily, we had time to reorder and it arrived on Christmas Eve. The song describes him as a "Hippo Hero" and Naiya had once described to me that a hippo hero would wear a red cape with a yellow circle with a green H on it. I made him a little cape out of felt to match her description.

She was happy with both gifts, and has even decided to leave the cape on the hippo. Darin was somewhat amused by our hippo banter throughout the month and ended up gifting us a book based on the song, which made all of us smile.

I must say, it has been a really fun month in our home full of secret gifts, excitement and so much anticipation. It has been fun to let Calin in on the magic for the first time and to share the behind-the-scene secrets with him. Between his growing up and Naiya's contagious belief in the magic, this has been my favorite Christmas ever.