Christmas is just around the corner. At our house, we just love Christmas. Family. Cookies. Reindeer. Christmas trees. And Santa, of course. Santa is great. We love you, Santa. But, my family has a soft spot for Mrs. Claus. In fact, due to a chance knitting encounter (I'll save this story for another day), I'm actually pretty tight with Mrs. Claus.
I don't think Mrs. Claus gets enough credit. Clearly, she has a lot on her plate with all those elves running around and toys EVERYWHERE. Her house is definitely bigger than mine and I spend ALL DAY, EVERYDAY picking up toys. Plus, I know Mrs. Claus is a mad knitter. Every time I see an elf, he's rocking some killer knitted something. How does Mrs. Claus find the time?
Last year, Mrs. Claus went above and beyond. She was worried that the kids might not have prepared properly for Santa's arrival. Dea was just 3 months old and Telly was three, so I can understand her concern; they aren't the best planners. Plus, I guess Santa is getting picky in his old age.
About a week before Christmas, Mrs. Claus sent an elf to hang a hat on each of the girls' doors while they were sleeping.
Each hat was stuffed with all the things my girls would need to get ready for the big day.
First, she included a letter. Mrs. Claus is an excellent letter writer and I'm pleased that she hasn't switched over to email. If you would like to read her letter, just click on link below (I typed it up, so you can see it):
A LETTER FROM MRS. CLAUS
Next, Mrs. Claus gave us a bag of reindeer food to throw on the roof on Christmas Eve. I was surprised to see that reindeer food includes fairy dust. I've always been under the impression that reindeer are born with a natural ability to fly. Go figure.
She also included chocolate coins for tipping the elves. Evidently, the elves are more generous with stocking stuffers if you leave them a tip.
Mrs. Claus put a small bag of candy cane seeds in the hat. I have the worst luck with house plants, so I was a little overwhelmed by this addition. Luckily, Telly and I were able to find some great tips for growing candy canes online. It was a dirty business, and Telly certainly overwatered them, but before long, we were growing our first candy canes. We harvested, cleaned our candy cane plants, and promptly ate them.
The next thing we found in the hats were bells. This was definitely the most practical gift Mrs. Claus included. Apparently, these bells came from the reindeers' harnesses. Mrs. Claus instructed Telly to ring her bell on Christmas morning BEFORE coming downstairs. Telly loved this plan, and practiced ringing her bell constantly. She kept it at the foot of her bed on Christmas Eve and rang it dutifully on Christmas morning.
There was also a lovely cookie recipe in the hat. The cookies were quite delicious (I can see why Santa prefers them), and we were required to make a second batch after inviting our family to share. We ate them all before I could take a picture.
My favorite goodie in the hat was a wishing stone in a tiny velvet bag. This little piece of snowflake obsidian came straight from the North Pole and Telly got A LOT of use out of it before and after Christmas. To use the stone, Telly needed to hold it an both hands and make a wish. Any wish she made for herself required a second wish for someone else.
Finally, there were the hats, which Mrs. Claus knit herself. These are retired elf hats, and thus, contain a good deal of magic. Did you know that elves lose most of their magic through their heads? It was news to me. Telly's hat came from Norbert elf and Dea's hat came from Nelly elf.
I don't think Mrs. Claus intended for Telly to wear the hat (seeing as it is elf-sized), but Telly insisted.
Telly and I were thrilled to find that Dea was exactly elf-sized.
Mrs. Claus has directed us to hang the empty hats on the girls' doorknobs one week before Christmas this year. Apparently, she is sending more supplies AND a special handmade gift. Mrs. Claus must really love us. We are so very lucky to have each other!