That time the E.L.F. lasted about 5 days before high tailing it home

Oh ya’ll, I know some of you loathe the little friend of Santa’s that flies around the house bringing creativity and mischief, but I LOVE him!  When I was growing up, my brother and I had elves and this was way before the shelf one made an appearance.  My mom was just cool like that.  I like to think she was the first creator of the tradition and these shelf people were just copiers.  Anyway, our elves (Christina was and still is my elf’s name) watched over us all YEAR long (take that shelf people) and would leave a wrapped present by our door Christmas eve with a handwritten note.  It’s pretty genius if you think about it because that was the one gift my brother and I could open as soon as we woke up on Christmas morning no matter what time we woke up.  It totally gave them an extra hour of sleep!  GENIUS!  Anyway, so you can see why I love the elf tradition!

Our little guy is named Fargus McGummySmiggens.  Yes, Linc totally  named him that himself when he was barely even two.  I don’t know how or why but that is his name and it’s also kind of genius.  Maybe we had been watching the movie Elf way too much at the time, who knows.  Anyway, last year was fun because he had started to understand the concept of Fargus.  He would look for him and actually would talk to him!  He expected him to move around and knew that he would talk to Santa and report back.  This year however, it’s a game changer.  Not only does he truly understand the concept of Fargut, but he also is completely into his magic!  It’s AMAZING!  He looks for Fargus everywhere.  He talks to him.  He leaves him treats.  He is freaked out by the fact that Fargus talks to Santa.  He wants to know all about his home and what he does during his “off”season.  It’s a mother’s dream, especially this mother.

Now let me get to the good story, most of you know my kid.  Linc is wild and crazy.  He is super strong willed and very athletic.  He never sits still for a moment and most of the time he’s a pretty good/goofy boy.  Sometimes though, when he is tired or hungry, or heaven forbid both, he is terrible!

Fargus made his appearance after Thanksgiving on our Merry Time Disney cruise and that was super fun.  We even had our stateroom guy Bart in on the fun of Fargus and not being from the United States he was super confused and enchanted.  When Fargus flew home though, he was exhausted.  He kind of sluggishly moved about the house for a few days and finally ended up driving our little red truck with the Christmas tree in the back.  When we finally settled back in to a normal schedule with Linc back to school, you could tell Linc was exhausted.

He was watching Fargus but he wasn’t doing a super great job of listening to mom and dad.  Fargus wasn’t impressed.

Finally one afternoon/evening after coming home from school and not even being home for 5 minutes, Linc’s attitude hit the fan!  He wanted a snack but dinner was being served and he threw a full on tantrum.  I mean the dramatic’s were on point.  He threw himself on the floor (it was emmy worthy) screamed at the top of his lungs (I”m sure the neighbors heard) and started to kick and punch!  And Fargus had a front row seat.

There was name calling involved (Linc on mommy) and the whole scene progressed upstairs to Linc’s room.

After about 10 minutes or so when Linc had time to calm himself down, he wandered back downstairs, apologized and began to look for Fargus in the red truck.  I mean hey… the guy had a front row seat to his anctics, he needed to make sure he was good so that he wouldn’t report the outburst to the big guy.  Guess, what though, Fargus was no where to be found!

Fargus was OUT.  He flew the coop!

Linc panicked.  Where was Fargus?!

We explained to him that Fargus got scared when he started screaming and flew away back to the North Pole!  He doesn’t like it when he has to report to Santa that Linc who usually is a good listener wasn’t listening that day, or wasn’t behaving and he was really afraid to tell Santa about the outburst that evening.

Linc asked when he was coming back and we said we didn’t know… but of course I do,  Fargus and I talk!

I’m telling you, this was great for us.  Fargus had been away for 2 days and Linc had been on his best behavior!  He constantly asked about Fargus and I just told him that Fargus was still checking in with Santa and it was Santa’s call when Fargus could come back.  I totally had a plan for when Fargus made his re-appearance, and it was going to be a slow one!

Seriously though Ya’ll… how many elves only make it 5 days and have to leave because of a kid’s behavior?!  I mean is that a thing or is it just our house?!

Fargus ended up coming home and Linc was ecstatic!  I am happy to report that his behavior has been pretty stellar!  We made a slow drawn out (very dramatic) reappearance starting with a beautiful elf door.  Santa gave Fargus special permission to put in this elf door since he was using up so much of his magic in reporting all of the shenanigans that had been going on so far.  Santa thought the door might be easier for travel.  Fargus also made Linc a special behavior chart in the elf workshop so Linc could see how he was doing and when he was in danger of a “Santa report” and could make a change if needed!

So far, it’s been an amazing turn around and Fargus is happily back to his fun and silly games.  But I mean.. it’s only December 6, can we take bets on how long he will last this second go round?

Anyone else have similar stories?!!!