Is it about The Elf on the Shelf or Buddy the Elf, or someone altogether different?

Our Elf on the Shelf is named Pipsqueak, and Finn and Simon love that thing to death. I’ve told Becky that when they find out that she and I are behind this whole Christmas deal, they’re going to be more upset to find out that Pip isn’t real than they are about Santa.

Pip doesn’t do anything crazy; he just does fun Christmassy stuff; he’s the one who hangs all the lights every year, and he always winds up in them at some point. He brings candy at times; he brings hot cocoa and donuts. He brings sodas on December 2nd. That’s Becky’s birthday, and it’s the only day of the year she allows herself to drink anything but water. On that day, she allows herself one bottle of root beer. I think she has even skipped doing that the last couple of years, but Pip still brings a 4-pack every year.

That comes with vanilla ice cream, of course, because what self-respecting elf would ever bring root beers without ice cream to make floats?

So, you see, Pipsqueak is modeled in part on Buddy the Elf, Will Ferrell’s character in the film, Elf. If you haven’t seen that movie, you like Christmas as well as the next guy, and you haven’t grown tired of Will Ferrell, I think it’s as close to a must-see as you can find. You gotta give it up to Will and Zooey, but Bob Newhart and James Caan are amazing too.

And yeah, I think Pipsqueak definitely takes after Buddy. We watch the movie when we’re decorating the tree, and then we watch it other times during the Season as well. We’ve even been crazy enough to watch it out of Season.

And then every year, on Thanksgiving night, Pipsqueak comes back with his little bag of pleasant shenanigans, bringing a piece of Buddy with him.

He’ll be leaving again in less than a week. I’ll miss him as much as Beck and the boys. I guess he heads back to the North Pole with Santa when Santa drops off the presents. I think that’s how the legend goes; Becky wrote it all of course, and is still writing it I guess. Occasionally, after working all day at the school and pulling a night shift at Chili’s, she’s scoping Pinterest to see what all she can come up with to surprise and impress her boys.

So, just when I thought this was about Pipsqueak, it seemed like it might become about Buddy. Now, I see that it was about Becky after all. What a wonderful thing her young heart is for an old egghead. She not only believes in the Christmas magic, she can show it to you.