Elf Antics 2019:

11/27, The kids received a letter explaining why they would be late this year.

Day 1, 12/7/2019, After recouping from their sledding injury, they elves finally arrived a week late. The kids were excited to see their paper airplanes, and wondered if they had seat warmers. I was more impressed with the fact that they not only folded paper airplanes for the first time ever, but that they were sturdy enough to fly all that way. Peppermint crashed into Grumps and Ahna's Christmas tree knocking out a whole section of lights. The others appear to have touched down peaceably on the mantle.

Day 2, 12/8/2019, Apparently tired out from their long journey after their recent accident the elves opted to call in a report to Santa. The Cunningham children have mixed reports...

Day 2, 12/8/2019, Santa Update: 1) Britt - very helpful and kind to little sisters and cousins. Move him up the nice list. 2) Ruth - thought of others but complained alot. Still on nice list. 3) Rebecca - drew on the wall. Will drop to naughty list unless she cleans up. 4) Kate - supper cranky and demands a cup all day. Definitely on the naughty list.

Day 3, 12/9/2019, The elves must like the vantage point that the height of the mantle gives them as they decided to take a flight on the Mallards above the mantle. Rebecca also wrote Santa a note after cleaning up her drawing on the wall which the elves carried back with them. (I am pretty sure she dictated it to Ruth based on the spelling.)

Day 6, 12-12-19, Ahna told the elves they couldn't come back to her house after they rode her ducks (which aren't allowed out of the house) to the North Pole and then writing on her mirror. Today they went too far - meddling with my planner and tell the kids if they finished up this week's school that they wouldn't let me schedule anymore till after New Year's. They eagerly started school early and told me if Santa said they didn't gave to do anymore school then I couldn't ask them to.

Day 7, 12-13-19, Ruth guessed that they would do some rock climbing on the wall to the stairs because that would be cool. This evening though the kids found all the elves in the freezer just as Britt predicted.

Day 8, 12-14-19, The elves cheated by hanging out in the chandelier something that they have done twice before in other poses. Ruth told them since it was a different light and a different position that it didn't count as the same.

Day 9, 12-15-19, Some time during the night the elves moved to the kids' windows in their room to watch the progress of assembling their rooms over the next few day. They found Ruth a sleep on her hope chest.

Day 10, 12-16-19, In the family room window to watch the back yard and the work downstairs.

Day 11, 12-17-19, I almost forgot to take a picture of what the elves were up to today. They took one of the empty moving boxes and encourage the kids to share toys they didn't play with anymore. The kids also left a few well loved items with a request that Santa and the elves repair them.

Today as you unpack your toys, stop and think about each one. Any toys that you don't play with anymore put in here. You can be Santa Claus and share them with others who aren't as blessed as you!

Love, Mistletoe, Jingle, Twinkle, and Peppermint

Day 12, 12-18-19, It appears that we caught the elves working on two notes in the school room.

Day 13, 12-19-19, I anticipate a day with fewer interruptions as the elves saw that Gary had plugged up a tv with the VCR/DVD player last night and kindly dug out the Super Nintendo for the kids. They also apologized for being unable to repair Britt's Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders doll.Day 14, 12-20-19, Not sure if I should be happy that they took time to untangle some jewelry or if I should be unhappy that they are in my jewelry box. Mistletoe clearly wants no part of this despite Hope the Reindeer attempting to show off her antlers.

Also I now have proof that Santa is a wizard who loves muggle children as the elves make use of time turners.
Day 15, 12-21-19, Apparently the elves found our bed irresistible while they were in our room.


Day 16, 12-22-19, While we were gone the elves took it upon themselves to fix the stockings that had faulty command strips and kept falling.




Day 17, 12-23-19, At a suggestion from Daddy the elves played hide and seek in our kitchen appliances. Of course he also suggest the "ELF or evil little fairies" do some cleaning but they didn't. It took the kids till 2 pm to find the first one.Day 18, 12-24-19, The elves set up a kissing booth with free kisses this morning. Britt especially loved the play on words. Rebecca on the other hand thought they were stealing candy.
Day 18, 12-24-19, All afternoon they played with the kids before saying goodbye till next year. The elves can be touched today since they hitch a ride home with Santa tonight.

People who are naughty get lumps of coal for Christmas, but elves who are naughty have to work the coal mines.

Once there was a gang of elves that were so bad, they delayed Christmas by so far that we almost missed it.  The next year we caught them.  They were sent to the coal mines.  They worked day and night.  They were tired, and they would have run away, but there were two Yetis at the entrance keeping guard so that nothing could come out, and hardly anything came in.  So, they were plotting to make it look like the mines were exploding.  They were working on a plan, but when the Yeti's turned around to check their work, they looked busy.

This is what it was like working there.  You're mining all day and all night.  It's cold with no heaters.  You get one coat and a hat.  Most of the time, you worked all month long, with only 1 meal a day and no snacks.  If you disobeyed time was added to your sentence.  Their plan was to make some of the coals burn, so the Yetis would leave to get things to put the fires out.  Then they would escape before the Yetis could get back.  But if they don't think the entire mine is catching on fire, you don't want an angry Yeti yelling at you.  They are big, mean, and scary.  So most elves, just waited until their working in the mines was over.

But the plan worked, and the elves were back to trickering.  But when they were caught again, they got hurt.  Ever since then, they never tried to cheat people or trick them ever again.

It's the coldest Christmas Eve in history and a poor family is out of coal for their furnace.  The only child in the family has 24 hours to get on the naughty list.

It is the coldest Christmas ever and we are out of coal.  Do you know how bad that is?  So that means, since I'm the only child in the house, I have to find a way to get from the top of the nice list (which is where I am) all the way down to the naughty list.  I only have 24 hours!  But I don't want to be bad.

So first, I guess I'll draw on the walls.  But I'll only do it with pencil, because I can erase it after all of this is over.  Then, I will have to throw a snowball at my mom and dad.  They will really hate it, and since we are really poor we don't have thick clothes like other people.  So they will be cold, not think it's fun.  I don't want to do it, but without that coal we will die it's so cold.  The freeze might last until summer.  So I went outside, and the kids with plenty of coal where having fun building snowmen.  So, sadly I walked over and kicked the snowman to knock it over.  It accidentally fell on them.  They got super mad, and I felt bad, but how else was I suppose to get coal, it's not like they were going to give me theirs?  Then I dumped snow all in Momma and Daddy's bed.  When they sat down to go to sleep it was part snow and part water.  It made them miserable, I was so sad.

Finally, finally, Santa dropped off a list that sad you are now on the naughty list.  I was so happy, I decided to go to bed early.  So I decided to go to bed early, because if I did anything else to help my parents I might get back on the nice list.  So I went to bed so I didn't do anything else good or bad.  That night I got woke up, as there was a big hole in my ceiling.  A big clump of snow feel on me.  So I woke up and snuck into the living room.  I hid so Santa wouldn't know I was here.  I watched as he put a whole bunch of coal in my stocking.  (The stocking that was actually just one of my socks.)  I was so happy, but I didn't make a sound.  Then something strange happened, he put presents under my tree.  Then my curiosity just got the best of me.  I walked out from behind the door, and asked Santa, "Why did you put presents under the tree.  I thought I got on the naughty list?"

Santa said, "You wanted to be on the naughty list, so you and your family wouldn't freeze.  You didn't want to do any of the things you did.  The people on the naughty list go on there because they meant to be naughty or because they were whiny and complainy not thinking of others."  Then he told me bye.  Touched his nose, and flew up the chimney.  I heard him walk across the ceiling, heard the reindeer prancing, and saw him fly away.  I woke up my cold and shivering parents to show them all the coal and they were happy too.  We made a big roaring fire, and slept next to it all night.

What do you think it is like to be an elf?

Rebecca:  I am a sleigh elf.  I ride in Santa's bag with all the presents.
Ahna:  Do you get crushed?
Rebecca:  No. The bag is magical a kid could get in it and not get crushed.

My name is Snowfall.  Almost every Christmas Santa gets started giving out the presents late.  So my brothers and sisters have to help him send out the presents.  It gets a little boring because we have to read the names and look in the book to see what the address is.  But it is pretty fun to jump out of the sleigh and push my button that takes out my parachute.  That's fun.

But this year I'm changing jobs.  I hope I get a good one, like putting the presents in the bag.  The good part of that job is since you only do that once, the rest of the time when they are delivering you get to play.  That's an easy job that includes no reading.  Or maybe putting the toys in the wrapping machine, because you don't eve have to wrap them, and they only do it once a day, so you get to play the rest of the day.  I like jobs where you get to play.  You get the idea now.

I will tell you about me and my reindeer.  My reindeer's name is Twinkle.  We play a lot together when I have time to.  When I'm not doing busy stuff like delivering presents.  DING! DING!  Oh dear, sorry it's about time to go help Santa.  That's the bell that calls me.  See you later.  Hope I can talk to you later.  I hope you liked my story about me in the North Pole.  Please come back to the North Pole Story teller, that's me, and listen to great stories about me in the North Pole.  The end.

Describe the perfect Thanksgiving meal.

The best Thanksgiving meal is when we all go to Grandmother's.  Why is it so good?  Because there is great punch, nice deserts, good oster crackers, and I get to pick everything on my plate.  Most of the time we have nice sweet creamed corn.  We also get to see Unca Nick and Unca Matthew which we almost never get to see.  We also get to have a nice time with Knox.  He's fun to play with.  We also get to watch cool movies with Unca Nick.  I also like to watch Ruth and Unca Benji get into funny teasing fights.  It's also good to see Grandmother and Granddaddy.  And it's all a great time.

Describe the perfect apple (the taste, texture, color, and what you would do with it).

The perfect apple tastes sweet.  It has super sweetness, but not so sweet that it makes your teeth feel grimmy.  The color of it is a beautiful golden yellow apple.  The texture is smooth and shiney on the outside.  On the inside it is hard, but not hard to bite into.  It's soft, but not so soft that it is mushy.

I would make a beautiful pie with the apple.  Cut it up with a little bit of pumpkin spice on it since it is close to Thanksgiving. I would make the perfect vanilla ice cream to go with my pie.  My pie would have a pastry crust made of dough shaped like leaves.  Then when it was finished, I would use that edible paint on it.  Then I would take it to the Thanksgiving diner, and everyone would love it, even Britt and he doesn't like apples.  He would like it so much, he'd even eat two pieces.

Write a story about a turkey right before thanksgiving.

Once upon a time there was a little turkey named Rebecca.  It loved adventures, and one day it was on the biggest adventure of all.    It went out of it's home into the human world.

When I went out a human saw me and said, "Yum!  Let's cook this big fat turkey."  Then it grabbed me by the FEET!  He tied my feet up and then tied my wings so I could not fly.  Then he put me in the line to eat the fat, juicy, yummy turkeys.  There were lots of turkeys in the line because they all went on the same adventure.  They were all dead though, I wasn't.  I tried to fly, even if I couldn't.  I tried to hop, but I could not move a muscle.  Not even a feather.  I was the last one in line, and I was about to be thrown in the pot.  They were going to cut my feathers off, more like skin me.  But I was barely strong enough to hop, hop, hop off the counter.  I used my beak to peck the rope off my feet.  I tried to fly, but couldn't.  So I ran for my life yelling, "GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE!"  Then I tried to go back home, but they closed off the entrance, and I couldn't get in.  So I ran and yelled gobble, gobble, gobble some more.  I ran and ran, no matter how much I ran.  Then they cut me in Alaska, they caught me in the dessert.  Panting, they took me all the way back home to Florida.  When we finally got back home, they stuffed me.  I had to eat and drink alot, because I was really thirsty.  As they stuffed me and drunk me up, then they took out the knife and chased me around the house.  I could fly, but then I fell back to the ground.  Then I jumped, jumped, jumped.  I almost got away when they went to chop my head off.  Then right before I died an army of turkeys came and pecked them up.  They ran away never to bother us again, and non of the turkeys were dumb enough to leave the hive ever again, because any who do get eaten.

It's Veteran's Day.  What are three ways to show your appreciation.

1)  I could give them a salute.  Poppa J likes when I salute with him.
2)  I could give them a present like maybe a little money to do something fun with his family, since he has to be gone from his family alot.  Or a board game, or tickets to a baseball game.
3)  I could say thank you because no one knows that you appreciate them if you don't say so.

Sept 22nd was the first day of Fall.  What do you think of when you think of fall?

I think about going to Ahna and Grump's house, where Grumps makes a gianormous pile of leaves and us jumping in.  I think about eating a big, giant piece of turkey.  I think of having fun at Ahna and Grumps' house with Neela.  And that's pretty much it.  Yes, I like fall.  Why wouldn't I?  The leaves are all different kinds of colors, we get to go to Ahna and Grump's house.  Everything is great about fall.  I really like getting to see all the pretty colors of the leaves.  It kinda reminds me of a rainbow, but not in that order.  There is red and orange and yellow and sometimes that really dark purply color.  It's my second favorite part of the year, after Christmas.

What's your favorite thing about fall?

I love jumping in leaves, and helping make Turkey.  I love how it's super cool and the different color leaves.  Sometimes I see snow flurries.  I love everything about fall except getting my lips chapped.  The second problem with fall is that I can't wear sandals like I can in Florida all the time.  But if I had to pick one activity as my favorite part, my favorite, favorite part is raking a big, big, BIG pile of leaves with Grumps and all of us jumping in.  Then when Grumps buries us and we pretend to swim in it.  One year we played Dead Man, Dead Man, like on the trampoline, but in the leaves and staggered around trying to tag them with our eyes closed.  I kept falling in the leaves.  One time we pulled Grumps into the leaves, but it was super hard.  Then he laughed and pulled us in the leaves and buried us with more leaves.  When we finally got out of all the leaves, he was already raking up another pile.

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For Halloween finish this spooky story, and tell us what happens next. I was walking down a deserted road when…

I was walking down a deserted road when it started to rain.  As the thunder began, I began running down the road, looking for anywhere I could stay.  When I saw a mansion (just in case you don't know what a mansion is, it is a very big house), I knocked and the door creaked open.  I asked if anyone was home, a man came out and said "Certainly, would you like to stay while it's raining."

"Yes, thank you," I replied as I walked inside.  I saw that there were some towels, and asked if I could have one.  He agreed, and I was surprised to find them very warm, as if they had just come out of the drier.  As I dried off, I realized that the table was set.  The man said he was about to eat supper, and I asked where were all the other people.  "Oh I always like to keep the table nice and ready, in case of guest," he replied.

I sat down as he brought out tea and biscuits (in this term biscuits are actually little tiny cakes).  As we had a nice chat, it started to get darker and darker and the rain continued harder and harder.  He finally told me just to pick out a room I liked and plan to stay the night.  While I was looking I heard a large creak, and footsteps on the floor coming faster and faster.  I decided to hide in a closet just in case.  I looked through the bottom, as I heard a person step into the room, but I didn't see feet.  Then I heard a huge clank, and saw two big metal feet as the armor came closer and closer.  It was coming toward the closet.

I tried to think quickly and hid behind a bathrobe, when somebody or something in armor swung open the door.  The problem was that he wasn't leaving, he just stood there.  Then slowly he began pulling one hanger down after another.  As he got closer and closer to me, I realized I was all the way in the back of the closet.  It was a dead end, if he got all the way to me, there was no where else to hide.  As I am thinking on what to do, he trips over one of the clothes, and I dived under the pile of clothes he'd already taken down.  After pulling the last item down, he began picking them up.  There was nothing else to do.  When he picked up the last item, he said, "What are you doing down there?"

It wasn't the suit of armor but the same older man, and I stammered, "but, but, but...but there was..."

"Oh calm down let's go eat supper before it gets cold."

As I followed him, and sat down to supper.  While we were eating there was a bolt of lighting and the lights went out as the thunder clapped.  Then I heard a piano playing, and I got up to go to it in the next room.  As I entered the room, I saw the keys moving with no one sitting there.  I then heard that sound of armor again.  I know it is the knight, and I think fast.  The only option as I look around is an organ.  There is a door on it for repairs, so I hide inside hoping the knight doesn't find me.  (An organ is an instrument kind of like a piano, but a little different, with pipes and such.)

Then suddenly there was silence.  Then out of nowhere the knight opens the door.  I slipped past it's legs, I ran for the door, but it was locked!  I tried to get out the window, but it was boarded!  As the knight is coming, I know I'm at my doom.  But then the man comes out laughing, "We gotcha!  Me and Nicholas here like to play pranks on people who stay here.  It's just a little fun.  No one has ever gotten hurt.  Well, except for the time I went a little too far with Headless Nick, I mean, Nick."

Sir Nicholas then replied, "It is Sir Nicholas now, and second, it wasn't a little too far.  You went way too far."  He then turned to me, and said, "I may be a ghost, but I like to wear my armor, everywhere but bed."

Just then the rain began to lighten up, so I decided to head out.  As I ran down the road, I yelled back "Thanks for the scare, but no thanks!"

Six years later, I was in the area, and decided to stop in and see them.  But the mansion was no where to be found.  It was never seen again. The End