I’ve been Elf-ed!

My crafty blogging friend, June Crawford at A Creative Dream elf-ed me the other day. I thought “What a clever way to spread some Christmas cheer” and went right to work on my own elfin gift.

I printed out the darling “You’ve been Elf-ed!” card which June so kindly has posted on her blog for people to copy. Since I’m wintering in a poor area of Mexico, I decided to give my elf-ing a little twist to suit the circumstances.

Not wanting to obligate some poor local to buy a gift for a perfect stranger, I wrote on the back of the card in my best Spanish.

“Congratulations! This Christmas elf hid this little gift for you. The only thing you need to do is give a piece of the candy to someone you love and tell them so. Happy Christmas!”

My Spanish is not the best so I hope the recipient can figure out what I’m trying to say. I didn’t have time to handcraft a gift, so I thought I’d pick up something in the supermarket.

I hoped for a child to find the gift, or perhaps parents who would then have an extra Christmas present for one of their niños. So I selected this cute little plushy guy in the shape of a boot, wearing a Santa hat and filled with chocolates.

After the candy is gone, the child will have a little zipper pouch that can be played with, used as a purse, pencil case or … whatever.

It was by sheer coincidence (and I didn’t even realize it until I looked at these photos!) that my little gift is pretty much the spitting image of the elf on the card. Just look: elfin figure wearing Santa hat stuffed into a boot/stocking with candy. How cool is that?!

I left for church Sunday a little early so I would have time to hide the gift somewhere in plain sight. Do you realize how hard that is to do? After some thought, I decided to set it outside this little neighborhood “mini-super” grocery store.

I put it on the ground beside a telephone pole sporting an overflowing garbage can on the opposite side. If the garbage men came before someone found it, they might try to pick it up but surely would recognize that it wasn’t garbage.

Casual passers-by would walk past without a second glance, thinking it was some garbage that had fallen out of the can or been left by someone who had pretty bad aim.

It kind of blends in with the paper scraps, rocks and weeds in the gutter. Until you look closer …

When I came back from church an hour later, my little elf-ing was already gone, but the garbage hadn’t been picked up. Yes! I hope it brought smiles to some faces and now has a good home.

If you want to join in the joy, go to A Creative Dream, where June is still recruiting elves. The world needs more reasons to smile.

¡Feliz Navidad!