Bah Humbug- Holiday Pet Peeves

Here are my ultimate 10 Holiday Pet Peeves, because I am sooo over the Holidays!

1. Save Now, Hurry, Act Fast- all of the annoying emails from stores. Please, I don't need 3 emails from you every day, telling me not to "miss out". It makes me NOT want to buy from you!

2. Specialty toy stores hocking toys that you can buy from Toys R Us, and marking up the price.

3. People that buy tons of hot ticket toys to sell on Ebay. Yes, I am speaking of my son's beloved Ixl, which I went into a mad frenzy to buy the day before Thanksgiving.

4. The lack of entertainment during the Holidays. No new TV shows, no new blog posts... it's like people are busy or something! What's up with that??

5. Scrooges. Come on, now... that's no fun. At least try to find some happiness during these hectic days.

6. Long shopping lines. I took that picture standing in line to buy GROCERIES. Not gifts, just food. That's obnoxious.

7. Rude people. Hey we are all in this together, we don't need to shove and shout!

8. Bad holiday music... which to me is basically any Holiday music that was made after 1960.

9. People bragging about being all done with everything... oh wait I am one of them. Still, I am annoyed with myself.

10. Trying to find places to put Boodle, our elf on the shelf, every night. Our house is not big enough! I was glad to see him go, even though my youngest son, Jacob, cried when I told him he was gone for the year.

What about you? What are some of your Holiday Pet peeves?

My Interview with Boodle, My Elf on the Shelf

So I thought you might be sick of hearing about the four of us, I thought you might want to hear about our temporary fifth member of the household, Boodle, our Elf on the Shelf. To learn more about Boodle, click here. Warning: there are major puns and bad jokes located within this text. Proceed with caution.

Me: Okay Boodle, thanks for chatting with us. I know you aren't supposed to speak to the families you stay with. Are you going to get into trouble?

Boodle: No, it's just the kids I'm not supposed to talk to. You adults just ignore me, so I ignore you.

Me: Sorry.

Boodle: Whatever. Not a big deal. *sniffs*

Me: So tell me something a little bit about yourself.

Boodle: My real name is Gavin and my job is very demanding during the Christmas Season. During the off season, however, I write novels, under a pseudonym of course.

Me: Really? Anything I have read?

Boodle: Have you heard of Harry Potter?

Me: Yeah!

Boodle: Well, I didn't write THAT but I wish I had. Man I would be RICH! I also went to Lollapalooza. Yeah, you are lucky I didn't tell Santa about what I saw you doing at Lollapalooza. Drink beer much?

Me: Yeah, I think we should, um...move on. So how long have you been a Christmas Elf?

Boodle: Well, you are my third family, so about 20 years.

Me: Oh, wow- how old are you?

Boodle: 65.

Me: You look so young!

Boodle: Yeah I get that a lot. Felt and plastic doesn't really age. Plus candy cane diets are very good for you, believe it or not, and I get a lot of exercise running from Homes to the North Pole.

Me: I bet that's difficult.

Boodle: Well thanks for covering for me the other day when I forgot to go by saying that you forgot to move me. I totally fell asleep.

Me: Um... no problem? So, since you "observe" our family all day, is there anything you can share with the readers about our family?

Boodle: Of course at an interview about me, you ask about yourself. You bloggers are a vain bunch.

Me: I'm not vain! A little self absorbed, maybe.

Boodle: Riiiight. Okay, so something about your family? You guys wear pajamas a LOT. And Mom, you swear under your breath often.

Me: Thanks for that.

Boodle: Well, Santa knows already, he's known for years... you were swearing back when you were 8, you know. Picked it up from your Dad, he's a champion swearer.

Me: Hey, don't say bad things about my Dad!

Boodle: I like your Dad! What's wrong with swearing? Elves swear all of the time, part of the reason that we don't talk to the children. I'm really cleaning it up for the interview, you know.

Me: Well thank you, the readers appreciate that.

Boodle: You mean all 11 of them?

Me: Hey, aren't you supposed to be a nice Elf?

Boodle: Who told you that?

Me: I just assumed.

Boodle: Well, assuming makes an ass out of you and me.

Me: You said you wouldn't swear.

Boodle: Sorry!

Me: What is Santa like?

Boodle: He is everything you've ever imagined. Jolly, generous, has trouble staying away from sweets. Kind of reminds me of Oprah. I don't see him every time I go to the North Pole. I see his Personelf Assistant. Santa is a busy guy. I will see him when he comes down your chimney on Christmas Eve. Speaking of that, you might want to move the toys that are in front of you chimney. Do your kids really even need toys?

Me: Okay, I think we need to wrap this up, it is going downhill quickly. One last question- who would you rather be stranded on a deserted Island with, Tinker Bell or the tooth fairy?

Boodle: What kind of BS question is that? Tinker Bell was made up by an JM Barrie. The tooth fairy, however is very REAL. On that note.... Tinker Bell.

Me: Really?

Boodle: Yeah, the Tooth Fairy is a little long in the tooth. *Snickers*

Me: Oh hardy har har.

Nablopomo burnout and Elf Martyrs....

I am getting a little bit of Nablopomo burnout. I know it's early in the month, and how sad is that? But for the past 3 days I have been sitting alone in my office for ten hours, hurrying home and putting the kids to sleep, and then going to sleep myself (or cleaning) neither of which make for exciting material.

So a little anecdote. For Christmas last year we got the Elf on the Shelf. For those that don't know about this, well, click on the link to get an explanation. We started the tradition by pulling out the book the day after Christmas, and put the Elf (we named him "Boodle") out and hinted to Drew on how to find him. Every night you have to move him. So every morning, I ask Drew "Where did Boodle go?" and we have to find him. Drew never remembers.

Until yesterday, when Drew remembered for the first time on his own and asked "Hey, why didn't Boodle move last night?" Yeah, we forgot. The first time he remembered.

"Boodle!" I exclaimed. "Did you fall alseep last night and forget to see Santa? Geez Boodle, you have to remember to see Santa every day and tell him Drew is a good boy!"

"Yeah!" Drew exclaimed.

For a recap, yes, I blamed a stuffed Elf named "Boodle" for my mistake. We are reaching a new low here people... and it is not pretty.