Elf on the Shelf, Season 2022 - Episode 1

Welcome back! 

Our elves returned to the North Pole after Christmas Eve 2021, and they're back for season 2022!

Each year we're not sure whether they bother to still visit since our "kid" is a 14 year old teenager now. However, he did smirk when he discovered them, so they did well. They guarded the cookie box that contained chocolate chai cupcakes I baked to contribute to the village Christmas tree celebration later that day.

While it was a nice event as always I felt a little out of place. In the olden days, when Colin was little, all the other Moms were there with their little kids, and they were running around and raiding the buffet. 

This time? We discovered three of his former elementary schoolmates, and just as we wanted to go home, his friend arrived. "Practice was canceled" he said "so I thought I'd check out this place, I hear there's yummy food?"

This picture was taken by my lovely Mom. At this point I had left because I had a deadline: the nachos had to be ready before the game started. 

What game? 

Thanksgiving football! Colin has recently gotten into watching American football, and we enjoyed a balanced game. After the bills won, I went to bed. The youngster kept watching and cheering for the Vikings.

He may have been a little tired getting up on Friday morning. Remember, we live in Switzerland. There is no such thing as a long Thanksgiving weekend.

I hope Cookie and Biscuit helped him get going early in the morning!

Saturday they occupied Colin's bath slippers he wears after playing hockey - they're supposed to protect the guys who come out of the shower from the ones who still wear their skates. I don't know about really protecting their feet, but since C is usually the last leaving the shower he's not in danger ;-)

That day, unfortunately, he wasn't able to play at all. He woke up feeling poorly, and we had to excuse him from the game. It's only the second time in his career, and it s***ed, but it was him who said he wasn't up for playing. He slept most of the day.

The next morning our lovely elves were waiting for him with a  nice cup of honey milk.

While it did help, Colin decided to stay home on Monday. Better safe than sorry, right? Especially because he had big plans for Tuesday. Meanwhile the elves sat on his stack of school books.

The document on the right is a train ticket. Colin and his friend attended an orientation morning at our state college. I know, he was in Kindergarten just the other day... Time flies.

They had to catch the bus at 6:45am. Tough!

The piece of paper on the left is the itinerary for a hockey event in the Grison mountains, to which one of our vendors had explicitely invited hubby and son: 

A special dinner and the game against the current leader.

They were kind enough to send pictures to those who had to stay home. Look at this nice arrangment!

There were no goals in the first period, and C texted and said the athmosphere was lame. No wonder, can you spot the countless empty seats? They only had 3,530 people in the audience. The arena's capacity is 6,547.

As a comparison, that night, "our" team's viewership was 6,979 out of 7,200 seats / standing area.spots. On a sad note though, our team lost 1:4:-( whereas hubby and Colin experienced a 3:0 win. 

The next morning Cookie and Biscuit owned up to neglecting our only house plant. OK. I'll admit it, it was my responsibility.

This was the first week of our Elf on the Shelf adventures. Let's see what they have in store next week, keep your eyes open for my post one week from today.