A brilliant mother and her twin daughters started a company capitalizing on this very idea. Their Elf on the Shelf is a stuffed elf who comes to your home December 1, watches your kids' behavior, and reports back to Santa. On Christmas Eve, he or she returns to the North Pole and magically reappears in your home the following December 1.
This year we decided to adopt our own elf. We're slow to the trend. If you want more details about this new holiday tradition, please visit the website. My girls named our elf, complete with skirt accessory, Lisa.
I find Lisa a bit creepy, Chucky-like (I'm sure I'm not the only child of the 80s who remembers this horror film plastic doll), but my kids are bringing over neighbors to tell Lisa their Christmas wishes, another benefit of having your own elf is that he or she reports your wishes directly to Santa.
Every morning Lisa comes back to our house and perches in a new spot. The last two days were school days. I've never had such an easy time getting my kids out of bed. My youngest two ran around the house looking for Lisa, anxious to be the one who found her. Yesterday morning they found her in our Christmas tree. (Can you see the creep factor?)
And, I'll admit, I've used Lisa to my advantage. If the kids are arguing, I know it's as rare in my house as I'm sure it is in yours, I suggest they might want to cool it so Lisa doesn't report it back to Santa. So far, so good.
If you're wondering, this post is cryptic in nature. Lisa is real, and I wouldn't dream of suggesting otherwise. My kids love this blog!
I would like an adult version of the elf. Mine would be in bermuda shorts with a rocking body (I can only imagine what my husband's elf would look like). I'd name him Rafe. He wouldn't report on my behavior, but he would tell my husband exactly what to put under the tree. And, in a perfect world, he'd clean my house.
Would you bring an elf into your home?
4 comments:
We've had elves for our kids for a few years. They were a big trend in our community. I didn't know it was supposed to report on the kids' behavior! I could have been using the elves for motivation this whole time. The story we heard was that the elves would move around during the night and appear in different places - so I would shift their locations and it would be a surprise to the boys where they were. Enjoy the elf!
Julie, The girls are so excited about finding the elf every day that it's hard not to enjoy it.
When we read the book it talked about the elf reporting to Santa during the evenings, so it seemed like a way to keep my crazies in line!
Thanks for stopping by!
Definitely creepy! I had never heard of them until this year, when my friend told me all about how she's using one to her advantage with her two kids. (I can assure you it wouldn't work in my home - LOL!) All I know is, I'd be lying awake in bed wondering if some elf was going to show up and nibble my toes. ;-)
Melissa, Trust me, I've had eerie moments where I wanted to throw a blanket over it during the day! ;-)
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