A Visit from the North Pole

 Just after Thanksgiving the children and grand children in our family begin making cookie and candy houses in anticipation of visitors from the North Pole. The guests, a fairy family, come to stay until Christmas. The fairies have lots of fun adventures, let Santa know how good everyone's been, and tag along (in secret) on holiday service projects.

The sky's the limit on the spread the kids create for their family - sledding hills, skating ponds, and swimming pools with diving boards. One house had a slide that started at the top of the roof and shot down onto a toboggan run that extended to the end of the gum drop garden. Candy trees covered with licorice vines give the fairy family a great place to swing from.

We began this tradition years ago when our children were little, and now each set of grandchildren has their own fairies. The ones that used to come to our house were Uncle Henry and Aunt Agatha who tried very hard to keep their niece and nephew, Tom and Martha, under control. But Tom and Martha used to get mixed up in silly adventures that our children loved. Tom broke his ankle on the toboggan run, and got himself locked in the cupboard by a squirrel. Martha tried to sneak some candy canes from the pantry, but she accidentally knocked over a sack of flour, spilling the contents all over her so she looked like a snowman.

Every night the children write letters to the fairies and during the middle of the night the fairies write back. They make sure to tell the children how much they enjoyed their piano practicing, and how quick they were to clean up the table after dinner.

Sometimes the fairies suggest service ideas to help everyone get in the Christmas spirit - like singing carols for the lady down the street or giving cookies to the postman.

If the day has been very busy and the kids haven't had time to write their letter to the fairies, they call their message from the fire place up the chimney. Sometimes the fairies only have time to draw a quick picture about the nights adventures because they accidentally got shut in the dog house by the cat or stuck up the chimney surrounded by an army of live miniature marshmallows.

We have found that this is a great way to enhance the holiday spirit and give the children a creative adventure. Invite a fairy families to your house and have as much fun as the imaginations living with you can think up. 

Happy Holidays.