Elf AND The Shelf

Seasons Greetings, seems like forever since last post. Hoping anyone who still follows this is well. The unseasonably mild weather we've been having as result of a strong El Niño to keep much of the cold air bottled up in Canada has made for some anomalous personal observations as of late. Included were a few animal species forgoing hibernation such as the grey tree frogs you may remember from back in October! Per the title, on the 9th of this month we had an annual visitor appear that Mandi brought into our home and remains a continuing tradition. Though "Candy Cane" has been relatively behaved to the point of Ava wondering "why?", she accompanied me the other night on what became a remarkable adventure. With temperatures hovering near 60° shortly after midnight on the 14th, it was no surprise to see one of the frogs patiently awaiting their next insect meal like it were a late summer eve!



Multiple squall lines with gusty winds but no lightning would pass in the pre-dawn hours. At daybreak however, another final line would lift from the southwest with the timing as such that it caught sunrise in a way to rival systems of warmer months.




"What do we have here?"








Ladies and gentlemen, "The Elf and The Shelf!"


9:16 AM CDT in mid December!




and so ends a wildly unintended and out of season experience that was very much welcome for this time of year...


Skipping back to Candy Cane's grand entrance on the 9th.


Later that evening...




From the 13th, couldn't resist knowing they'd be around and would tie into the previous theme.