Meet Phenial, Noah's Elf on the Shelf. He is our newest and most fun holiday tradition this year. We started November 30th with introductions. We read the story, The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition, together then let Noah name his elf. He first chose "Crocodile", but Cody and I vetoed that as we said it needed to be a human name. I threw out lots of ideas to help Noah think of something. All my ideas just weren't right. We figured Noah would choose one of his friend's names like "Mason" or "Cashton" since that's how Noah chose the name for his pet turtle, Tucker, but he didn't. Noah pulled out the name "Phenial" from who knows where. Cody and I were just astounded he thought of such a unique, elfish name! We tried to go with "Phen" for short, but Noah was very resistant. So we'd like to introduce Phenial...our new holiday friend!
If you aren't familiar with the Elf on the Shelf tradition, let me fill you in. Every night Phenial travels back to the North Pole while we sleep to report to Santa about Noah's behavior. Then each morning, Noah finds Phenial in a new place sitting on the shelf or doing something funny. We are not allowed to touch Phenial as it ruins his magic. If we touch him, he won't be able to travel back to his home.
Our first task on our Advent calendar was to put out our elf door so Phenial could travel back to Santa. Cody fashioned a door out of wood scraps leftover from our renovation and painted the door red. Then Noah and I added the stickers and golden knob. It's been a highlight helping Phenial think of ways to surprise Noah and make him laugh each morning. Phenial is a very clever and creative little elf. I guess you have to be to work at the North Pole. Phenial has been elf-napped by ninjas, gotten drunk off hot cocoa and honey, fished for goldfish and little green aliens, gone horseback riding, put out a fire, been eaten by Boris the T-Rex, zip-lined across the living room, had a marshmallow snowball fight with Transformers, gone to battle with Army men, Superman-ed it on the ceiling fan, gone to the moon and much more! Noah is excited each morning to find Phenial in his new place. We definitely get a kick out of this tradition. 
If you aren't familiar with the Elf on the Shelf tradition, let me fill you in. Every night Phenial travels back to the North Pole while we sleep to report to Santa about Noah's behavior. Then each morning, Noah finds Phenial in a new place sitting on the shelf or doing something funny. We are not allowed to touch Phenial as it ruins his magic. If we touch him, he won't be able to travel back to his home.
Our first task on our Advent calendar was to put out our elf door so Phenial could travel back to Santa. Cody fashioned a door out of wood scraps leftover from our renovation and painted the door red. Then Noah and I added the stickers and golden knob. It's been a highlight helping Phenial think of ways to surprise Noah and make him laugh each morning. Phenial is a very clever and creative little elf. I guess you have to be to work at the North Pole. Phenial has been elf-napped by ninjas, gotten drunk off hot cocoa and honey, fished for goldfish and little green aliens, gone horseback riding, put out a fire, been eaten by Boris the T-Rex, zip-lined across the living room, had a marshmallow snowball fight with Transformers, gone to battle with Army men, Superman-ed it on the ceiling fan, gone to the moon and much more! Noah is excited each morning to find Phenial in his new place. We definitely get a kick out of this tradition. 
