Gumbo Parade

We had an Elf on the Shelf for the first time this year!  I had so much fun staging his antics every night after the kids went to bed, and managed to snap a picture of most of them.  So, here are the 2012 activities of Gumbo Parade, the elf!

photo graffiti

board games with the reindeer

riding the toy fire truck

sipping syrup

switched out the kids' stockings for their underwear 

"snow" angel

weighing himself in the bear balance

pretending to be a pet rat

superhero, zip lining

outfoxed

roasting marshmallows

spelling his name

nativity scene

pirate Gumbo

reading a cat book to the cats

hanging upside down from the mistletoe

hiding among the reindeer

"snowball" fight 

"toilet paper"

the last night! he used streamers and tape to trap the kids in their rooms so they couldn't peek at Christmas early!

Christmas morning! 

I endured a lot of teasing from my friends about being an Elf on the Shelf overachiever, but really, pinterest makes it EASY.  Almost none of these were original ideas.  I made a master list of 40 or so ideas from pinterest at the beginning of the month, and then just picked one that would be easy to pull off every night after kids went down.  Totally worth it!

See you next year, Gumbo Parade!