Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

I know a lot of families do Elf on a Shelf at Christmas time, which is such a cute tradition. But since I'd found a cute, wooly little mouse with a jingle bell tail a few years back, we do Mouse in the House. The idea is the same ~ Mommy hides Christmas Mouse every night after the Rufflings go to bed, and in our house, when you discover him, you get a small candy. Yes, even in the morning. Come on, it's Christmas! So Christmas Mouse has been found tandem parachuting with army men off the dining room light, getting into snacks in the pantry and all sorts of other mischief. But after a particularly awful day full of whining and brattyness and evil, naughty behavior, I came up with a plan for Christmas Mouse that night... Todd thought it was kind of mean, and encouraged me to do it;)
So the next morning, the kids couldn't find Christmas Mouse anywhere. I couldn't believe it, so I helped them look around. Then I discovered this very small little envelope...

Ella read it out loud to her brothers, this is what it said:
 "Dear Rufflings,
I'm sorry to have to say goodbye, but you are too whiny and spoiled, I must go. I am catching the next train, I need to find a family that has more Christmas Spirit. If you get this, try to catch me before I go.
With love and regret,
Christmas Mouse"
At this point I actually felt terrible because they had started crying!! I mean come on, they obviously know the mouse isn't real, and obviously I'm the one that hides it! Obviously! Right?  At least I thought it was obvious, but they were really upset and clearly are as gullible as all get out. So I, being a good Mom, told them it was a joke, don't worry, I know where he is, I'm so sorry...Ok, what I really did is say "you guys, he said try to catch him if you can, where do you think he'd be if he were waiting for a train?!"
They ran to the front porch and found him. Phew, that was close, he had a pillow and his suitcase packed and everything. Now was the time to talk about it and I honestly did apologize that I upset them, I told them I figured they knew a stuffed mouse wasn't real and that Mommy was trying to make a point. I'm sure I'll get therapy bills down the road. So Christmas Mouse decided to stay after all, and we're all relieved because we were used to getting a chocolate ball at 6:45 in the morning.