Gnome in the Home

Meet Starlight: your friendly neighbourhood house gnome

Ahhh..... December.  Truly, one big, long, magical marathon of a month.  Ever since Juniper became old enough to understand what was going on, it seems as though we have had to up the December ante every single year.  This year is no exception.  At some point toward the end of November, Juniper came home, with the newfound knowledge of "Elf on the Shelf".  Oh, Elf on the Shelf.  I had been purposefully and blissfully avoiding this holiday tradition, for a number of reasons:

1. We have SO MANY magical beings that frequent this house already, especially this time of year.  We had just made it past the Hallowe'en Fairy and the Soother Fairy, and were about to go deep into the Solstice Fairies and Santa Claus.  Likely the Tooth Fairy will also make an appearance at some point in the not-to-distant future.  Elf on the Shelf seemed like a little too much magical goodness to handle on top of all that.  

2.  With apologies to all those who have and love their Elf on the Shelf, they have always struck me as more than a little creepy, with those huge eyes and the Big-Brother-esque warning of watching you AT ALL TIMES. 

3. They are (ahem) a little pricey.

But Juniper was, as you might imagine, beyond excited at the prospect of our very own Elf on the Shelf, and - to be fair - it is pretty fun to have a tangible little being appear in a new hiding spot every single morning.  So the solstice fairies pulled through with a pretty brilliant compromise (if I do say so myself): our very own "Gnome in the Home".  (He ended up looking a little bit like a "Lumberjack on a Cooling Rack", but it didn't have quite the same ring).

"Hi Guys!"  (hanging by the rock salt crystal). Is it just me, or does he look a little like Clark?

So, the rules were that the kids had to choose a name for him, promise to love him, and not to touch him (lest the magic disappear), and that while he was here, he would protect the house.  There was some pretty serious discussion the morning he arrived, with both kids bandying around name ideas (including "Solstice Man", and "Big Beard Face", if a recall).  They settled on Starlight, which is pretty cute, I think.  Here are some of his "hiding" spots throughout the past week:

Hanging from the chandelier on a home-made swing 

Downward Dog on his very own sticky mat

Sticking some teeny tiny snowflakes on the window

Hanging with his friends, the decorative owls

Studying up on the constellations (his name is "Starlight", after all)

Besides the daily activities involving Gnome in the Home, and the Solstice Fairies, this week was also a very social one.  We did some visiting, hosted some brunch, and even had a surprise visit! Now who, do you suppose, my uncle Bill looks like?

Bill and Catherine stopped by!

 And though we have no snow yet, there was, of course, also some very fun times outside.  Nature walks, park visits, and taking the horses for spin. This is Linden's "Engineer" outfit.  He didn't specify, but I assume he means "train engineer".  (Not to dash your hopes that someone might follow in your footsteps, mom and dad!)

Reunited with "Brownie", who had been temporarily put away after Linden had taken the scissors to his mane and reins.

That's all for this week! Happy December, and may you have as many magical beings inhabiting your house this crazy season as we do!