have you heard...

...of the elf on the shelf? i hadn't. until yesterday. and i'm in love with the idea and will own my own little elf on the shelf next year.

in case you don't want to read about it on the site...

it's an elf that gets placed out prior to christmas (maybe he arrives on thanksgiving or something like that) and during the holiday season, the elf watches the children by day and reports back to santa each night. when the children awake, the elf has returned from the north pole and can be found hiding in a different location.

just too good not to share. can't wait to start this tradition in my own house, when my kids are greeting by the elf thanksgiving morning. that gives me a little less than a year to figure out why the elf wasn't discovered until 2009.