Meet Ciders, our friendly scout Elf.  Santa sent him to our house this afternoon to watch over the girls until Christmas.  He appeared on our Christmas tree along with a book, Elf on the Shelf, that tells his story.  Each night while the girls are sleeping Ciders travels back to the North Pole to tell Santa Claus whether the girls have been naughty or nice as well as what toys they want for Christmas.  The girls can talk to him but they cannot touch him, or else he will lose his magic powers.  It took some work to get Lilly interested in the story but once she understood the concept she was very excited.  Lilly promptly gave our Elf the name ‘Ciders’ (no idea where that came from) and is excited to see where he will re-appear in our house when he returns from the North Pole in the morning. 

We have also started counting down the days until Christmas with an advent calendar and a paper chain that Lilly assembled.  The Christmas anticipation begins!