Christmas has come and gone... and so have the Shan elves! Like many households with young children, we're visited each December by elves on the shelves. (It used to be just an elf on the shelf when it was only Dante, but they've doubled up since Gaia came along.) I was dubious about the elves at first, but they've proved a huge hit with our little ones -- indeed, I think Dante prefers them to Santa! After all, Santa only comes on one night, and no one ever sees him, whereas the elves are in residence for a few weeks, and the kids get to see them every day, and in a different location each time, as they move around at night while the rest of us are sleeping.

Dante's elf is the red one, and she's called Saucy Minx (it's a long story!). Gaia's elf is purple, and her name is Mishka. They got up to all sorts of mischief this year -- they had a snowball fight one night, they scaled up a rope to get to the upper floor, they played on Dante's Wii. But the highlight was undoubtedly when they took Spideyphant (an elephant painted like Spiderman, one of the cooler pieces of art that I own) for a ride around the hallway, steering him out from his usual resting spot underneath the stairs. It was a nuisance for Mrs Shan and I, as we had to veer around it every time we passed up the corridor, but the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever, and they're probably right. :-)

The other two photos were taken on Christmas Day, when Mrs Shan made my try on some funkily decorated coasters, cunningly designed to fit on people's noses. I quite liked the first one -- maybe I'll go for something like that if I ever do Movember again... :-)

Check out the January issue of the Shanville Monthly for all the latest Darren Shan news and updates: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly