Some kids have imaginary friends. Others name their stuffies and have tea parties with them. One day before Christmas my kid put on his elf PJs and developed a complete split personality.

His name is Chippy. He is a an elf who lives in the North Pole with Santa. Each year in Christmas Eve, he joins the big man on his sleigh. He’s not allowed to pass out the gifts. His job is to check the name tags to make sure Santa left the correct presents at each house. He and Santa share the cookies. Chippy was with us for an evening. And just like that he was gone.

Until he wasn’t. 

At the end of January, Theo donned his now too small elf PJs. And Chippy was back. This time he arrived with more details…and persistence. He was actually 400 years old which is apparently younger than most of the elves. This was why he wasn’t allowed to actually make the toys. Chippy had a little sister named Flippy who was only three years old. His parents were Santa and Mrs. Clause. That’s why he started calling me Karyn. He refused to answer to his name and would only respond to Chippy. When his teacher greeted him by name at daycare, he glared at me and growled TELL THEM. So I did. They laughed and played along.

Until the next day. 

He arrived day-after-day announcing his arrival as Chippy. Eventually his teacher said guests weren’t allowed at school and he would need to pretend to be Theo. Smart lady.

I begged for Theo to return. Chippy was a trickster. Several days after Chippy arrived, I asked if Theo could come home for dinner. As I dropped my son elf off at daycare, I was promised Theo would be there. Half way through dinner he told us he was Chippy and he would be attending swim lessons instead of Theo.

Then one day, Chippy just disappeared. We hadn’t heard a peep from him in about a month. But today I came home and guess who was there.

He’s back. 

I am writing for the 18th annual Slice of Life challenge presented by Two Writing Teachers.