A few years back, when the Elf On The Shelf was starting to pick up popularity, my very enthusiastic daughter pleaded with me to get her The Elf On The Shelf. She begged me to please get one because all her friends had it and it would be so cool to have one in our house too.

Not really knowing anything about what the Elf craze was all about, we drove over to our local bookstore to get one. I thought it looked kind of cute and it had a book! I figured it would be something that we…

I have been very distressed since Thanksgiving Eve. My daughter's complaints of pain had diminished a bit since the procedure, which is absolutely great news! She reports that the pain was greater prior to the procedure. So I am thinking...SUCCESS!

But Wednesday night, during the seasoning, stuffing, mixing, prepping of the turkey, mushrooms, stuffing and pumpkin pie making, she complained of mild pain, but didn't need any over the counter pain relief, but just wanted me to know that…

Today I told my daughter a horrible lie. She was sitting on her bed and examining her thighs. She stated matter-of-factly that she wished that her thigh was skinnier and the same size as the other. "Actually I want my thighs to match and be skinny like my friends."

I swallowed back a huge lump in my throat and convincingly lied to her. I said,"Sweetie, don't worry, your leg is swollen right now from the surgery. The swelling will go back down and everything will be fine. Now go get…