For those of you who don't know there is a tradition that started in the USA that involves an elf arriving in your home on Thanksgiving and staying until Christmas except that it magically returns to the North Pole every night to report on your children's behaviour. Here's the kicker, it moves to a new location every morning so your children will have a blast finding it!

The idea is brilliant as it is kinda like having a correctional officer stay in your home for the month, but for me, it was a big ball of stress.

I would bolt upright at 5am gasping, "I HAVEN'T MOVED THE ELF!" and my husband would kindly try to do it before he left for work but there were MANY a morning that I would try to hide it under my sweater or forget altogether so my kids start asking why "Jack" hasn't moved in two days!

Ugh. I don't give much unsolicited advice to new parents but I will often encourage them to really think about it before letting the Elf on the Shelf cross their threshold.

So last year, I decided the Elf was staying in the North Pole.

As part of my journey to simplify the holiday, I knew that taking this off my 'to do' list was going to give me more peace. So I went for it.

I will tell you, I felt guilty about it, but I knew I had to try.

I had to see if it really mattered to the kids. About 1/2 way through the month, one of my three kids caught on and he still talks about how the Elf never came last year. Oops. So, it didn't pan out as I had planned.

So, I could feel like the worst mom on the planet for not creating a more magical Christmas for my child or I could choose to be content that I had the courage to try something different.

And it did take courage. I felt bad, like I wasn't good enough, and believe me, I am not even one of those parents that sets up all sorts of comical displays of the elf. (If you don't know what I mean, see below) I was lucky to simply move the thing.

I'm putting the elf back on the shelf

This year, I decided to bring it back. But I'm not going to get stressed out about it. I will move it before bed (when I remember) and during the day when the kids aren't looking when I don't. I also have a teen in the home that I can recruit in the game. Who know's maybe he'll be posting some creative elf pics this year!

The bottom line is that we don't know until we try.

There maybe something you have always wanted to do during the Holiday's but you haven't. There might be something you always do and wish you didn't. It takes courage to lean into these changes and tweak it again next year. It can be hard to let go of Holidays of the past. The routine and tradition can be comfortable even if it's not joyful. But as I learned, it doesn't necessarily have to be all or nothing either. Through trial and error, we can find a system that works.

The Happy Holiday Sisterhood is the space where you can take things off your 'to do' list and experiment with how to navigate the 'stressful' things with more ease. You will be given the tools to reflect on what you love about the holidays and what you want to do differently starting now. We will rally for one another to stand up for simpler more meaningful solutions to classic Christmas overwhelm.