a hole bunch of fun

our Elf on the Shelf is named gofster. don't ask me the meaning behind the name, because i have no idea. we read the storybook, learned that we needed to bestow a name upon this elf who will be visiting us every day between thanksgiving and christmas for years to come, and contemplated his moniker as a family. susanna suggested gofster and we we went with it.

gofster, in case you are not well-versed in the Elf on the Shelf culture, observes the going-ons in the mann house from sun-up to sun-down. and then, as the kids sleep, he flies back to the north pole to report on good and bad behavior to mr. claus himself. the next morning, he's back -- but always in a different spot. the first thing the kids want to do as soon as they wake up is find him. he's been on top of the entertainment center, on top of the fridge, and even on top of curtain rods.

"on top of" are three very important words, for you see, gofster is not to be touched by little hands. he is here to quietly observe, which would simply not be possible if two certain people who are, oh, about 38-42 inches in height were to reach him. he needs some vertical distance to do his job. but he was running out of places to reside, until we were blessed with another leak in our kitchen ceiling.

i try to look on the bright side of things when i can. so i'm not focusing on the fact that this is going to cost us some serious money in repairs, or that we have a gaping hole in our ceiling right before family comes to town for christmas. instead, i'm embracing the hole.

and so is gofster.