Bernie the elf told us to decorate our tree, so we did.

This year we were lucky enough to have a Christmas elf.  Yup! His name was Bernie and, as his letters told us, he had done such a good job making toys that Santa gave him a new job helping some families count down the days until Christmas. 

Bernie was a very sneeky elf, ringing the doorbell and hiding, coming at odd hours of the night, calling our house when he couldn't make it in person.  He was also fairly demanding.  In his first letter, he requested that we decorate our tree before he could come back.  He even left a few ornaments for the girls to hang on the tree first.

Bernie didn't come everyday.  Sometimes he left toys or activities and sometimes he left us ideas for things to do as a family.  [make cookies, read books, play games, have some hot chocolate and marshmallows, write our letters to Santa]  Bernie didn't ever spend a lot of money, but he did get us thinking about what the season is about.  He challenged us to stop for a minute and spend some time together as a family, enjoying the company of one another.

At first I was planning on taking a photo of all the different letters Bernie sent, but I dropped the ball.  I did get a few so I will be sharing those in the days to come... here is the first day Bernie came.

He asked us to decorate the tree... 

11/365