I love Shiny the Elf.  I always have and I always will.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Shiny, Shiny is the elf that visits our house the 12 mornings before Christmas and leaves a gift in the elf boot outside our bedroom door.  Ok, so I don't live at home anymore and I don't have an elf boot, AND I'm married -- but Shiny still comes.  I'm a lucky girl.  Shiny is actually playing a pretty active role this Christmas season.  I'm seeing signs of him three times a day.  How you might ask?

Shiny #1:  The REAL and TRUE Shiny (my mom).  Every year Shiny has a theme and Shiny goes to all sorts of lengths to make it phenomenal.  This year's is very special.  Instead of leaving us a gift each morning, Shiny has chosen to use his funds to give to those less fortunate.  Each morning I wake up and get to find out who I/Shiny helped.  It's awesome.  AND, the message of giving is in the most extraordinary cards MADE by Shiny.  They are unbelievable.   So far Shiny has given the following:

1. Fishing poles, nets, supplies to sustain a family dependent on fish for food
2. Seeds - hybrid seeds that are drought resistant and produce higher yields of maize, rice, beans, cassava, etc.
3. Money to feed starving children in Africa (did you know a child dies of hunger every 5 seconds?)
4. Antimalarial bednets for children (every 15 seconds a child dies from Malaria)

I'll keep adding to the list as Christmas gets closer....

Shiny#2:  My cute husband.  He has gone out of his way to do something special for me every day since Shiny started.  So far I've gotten two breakfasts and two dinners.  One breakfast was pancakes made with winter pancake molds of snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas trees and gingerbread man.  The other breakfast was today.  Baking powder biscuits whipped up while I was out on my run.  They were intended for egg mcmuffins, but I was happy with just the biscuits!

Shiny #3:  Where we get to play Shiny.  This one has been a lot of fun.  If you are reading this and are in our ward --- shhh.  Please keep this one a secret from Nicole!  Nicole is one of our nursery kids.  She is so sweet and very shy.  Up until 2 - 3 weeks ago, she was the youngest of three girls.  Now, she's a big sister.  We thought she might like some special attention this Christmas as she adjusts to having a new baby sister -- so we decided to play Shiny (we cleared it first with her parents).   Turns out Nicole lives just around the corner from us... pretty convenient.  We thought this would be a piece of cake.  How hard is it to run from a three year old in the dark?  Well, when the home has big gorgeous windows lining the front of the house and the three year old has older sisters determined to catch the elf... it makes it a little tricky.  The surprises are little -- but it's been a lot of fun so far.  Plus, we get a kick out of the fact that we're having to be strategic to avoid being caught by little girls!