Visits from elves

It all started last weekend when Quinn and his family came to visit the Maison Conti. Before going to bed, Quinn put a plate of cookies out for the elves...in the morning it was clear that they had come and enjoyed their snack. The plate provided was far too large for them, so they used their own. Since they made such a mess of it, they did try to sweep up a little.

 

They used an ingenious little rope ladder to scale the chair and table. I guess they were surprised in the middle of their cookie munching because they left their things behind before they scampered away.

 

After Quinn got back to his own house, he drew a map for the elves so that they would be able to find him wherever he was. He drew his house, his school and both of his grandparents home. That about covers it.

Mysteriously enough, the next morning the elves left a map of their own. But what does it mean? They didn't label anything.

One day Quinn came down to breakfast to discover another big mess made by the elves. It seems as if they try to be helpful, but they're just too small. After having their own bowl of cornflakes they tried to get one ready for Quinn. They did manage to open the box using their very tiny scissors, but when they tipped the box over most of the cereal fell on the table rather than into Quinn's bowl.

The next morning Quinn found that the elves had cut off one of the paper whites and tried to plant it into a very small pot for Quinn. They don't seem to understand that once a flower is cut, it can't be planted in dirt. But their hearts are certainly in the right place.

These elves seem to take a lot of their meals at Quinn's house when he's asleep. One morning he came down to find that the elves had gotten into the bag of flour and were in the middle of making pizza when Quinn came downstairs. They always seem to hide whenever he approaches.

This weekend Quinn and his family came back to the Maison Conti for the actual holiday celebration. On Sunday morning Quinn found a portrait of himself next to his bed. Quinn had told us that sometimes the elves bring their little beds up next to his and when he's asleep they have a look at him so they will know what he looks like.

On Christmas eve, Quinn came upstairs to find that once again the elves had used that rope ladder to scale up onto our dining table. The top was covered with all kinds of activities. There seemed to have been some kind of garden work going on, a sewing machine with little pieces of thread and fabric everywhere, some construction tools and traces of sawdust and bits of wood. There was also a basket filled with toys, but they were obviously elf toys since they were so very small. Cars, some balls and even a little jump rope. They had also taken a couple of Bobo's coffee beans and ground one up to make themselves  cup while they were working. They left a note to Quinn explaining that they had to work quite late into the night to finish all their jobs and that now that Christmas morning is almost here, that they would be leaving on vacation. They said they'd be back to see Quinn next year.

Merry Christmas and a happy end-of-the-year to all.