This is the third year that Pete the Elf, our Elf on the Shelf, has come to visit.  It has been interesting to see how Avery reacts to Pete each year.  When she was 3 he was just a novelty, last year she grasped the concept that he was there watching her behavior, and this year it has gone to an entirely different level.

The other day I found Avery underneath the kitchen table changing clothes.  This is not typical behavior for our child.  She said she was changing under there because she didn’t want Pete to see.  I appreciated her modesty but told her that Pete was a good elf and closed his little elf eyes while she changed.  I guess all those talks about not running through the house naked are finally catching on.

It has been interesting to see how serious Avery is about Pete this year.  She wants to make sure he doesn’t see her doing anything she shouldn’t be doing..which is great.  Brianne and I have talked about how we could reinforce the same idea about God but haven’t come up with a good answer for that yet.

We do have a fun time with Pete while he is here.  He usually comes a day or two after Thanksgiving.  It takes him a while to get comfortable at the house and by early December he is making himself at home.  So far he has enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal of his own while we celebrated our 2nd Thanksgiving on December 1.  Pete invited the turkey to join him as he made some green bean casserole.  We have also found Pete reading a Bible Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church.  Everyone can use some time in the Good Book.  Pete also used some blocks to spell out a special message for Avery.  He might be doing this several times since we are working on phonics and reading.

Several of the blogs I follow have been sharing some great and creative ideas for posing your Elf on the Shelf.  Passion for Savings had a great post filled with 15 creative ideas for the Elf on the Shelf.

Have you found any great ideas for your elf on the shelf? Or have you come up with any of your own?

Update: The Elf on the Shelf photos have been very popular with Google Image Search so I thought I would add a few more photos of Pete’s adventures in our house this December.

Another update: I have been getting so much response and so many hits on the Elf on the Shelf post that I thought I would post up a few more photos of Pete in action.  It should be noted that our elf is a good elf, not a naughty one.