CHRISTMAS TIME…YEEHAW!!!!!
I am a sucker for art projects, holiday activities, baking and getting involved in the community for holiday events so when I had kids, it was only “OBVIOUS” that I was going to go all in with them as well…
Right before Annora was born this Elf on the Shelf idea hit the community and BLEW UP! By now you’ve likely all heard about the Elf, but just in case you’ve been in hiding or trapped in a Christmas time warp for the past few years, here’s the gist of it: Sold with a book that tells his story, the Elf sits on a shelf (and on toilets, in freezers, atop batches of freshly baked cookies… but more on that later) and keeps a watchful eye over the inhabitants of the home…AKA your children.
When everyone is alseep he flies home to the North Pole, where he reports back to Santa on whether the kids have been good or bad. Then he zips back to the house in time for everyone to find him precariously perched in some new, wildly entertaining spot the next morning.
Apart from being many families’ new favorite Christmas tradition, the Elf on the Shelf is also a multi-million dollar industry. As the Washington Post notes, “Within seven years of his birth, the Elf has scored his own Web site, Twitter account, $16 million in sales for 2011, an annual growth rate of 149 percent and a movie deal.”
Fun right? A little Christmas joy along with an easy way to keep the children behaving for about a month. What could possibly be wrong with this seemingly harmless practice? We weren’t sure we wanted to build up such a lie to our (at the time) child.
When our first-born came along and was of age for traditions to start, my husband and I needed to make a decision because we weren’t so sure having an elf in our home for 4 weeks a year was sending the right message about Christmas (I know…we are slightly over-protective). We had a list of cons such as:
1.He is naughty.
For someone who is supposed to be encouraging kids to be good, the Elf seems to spend a lot of time making mischief. He tears apart pillow cases, writes all over bathroom mirrors, he toilet papers the Christmas tree and gets into “laundry fights,” strewing clothes all over the floor. And yet, when the children he’s watching over-step and are out of line, he doesn’t hesitate to write a note letting them know that yes, he did tell Santa about the Sharpie-on-the-leather-couch incident and no, Santa is definitely not impressed.
2. He is manipulative.
Plenty of parents have concerns about the idea of using the threat of Santa’s little tattle-taling helper to coax kids into behaving themselves. It reinforces the message to even very young children that the only reason to be good to each other is to get stuff.
Isn’t that just an extension of the tradition of jolly old St. Nick himself, though? After all, as the song goes, “He knows if you’ve been bad or good…” Like most busy moms out there, I have nothing against a little bit of well-placed bribery.
Those 2 objections were well talked about in our household and we weren’t sure the Elf would be welcome…but we also discussed the pros to having him around.
REASON: IT’S FUN IF DONE CORRECTLY!
How fun would it be to write letters to Santa, have the elf take them at night and come back with a Santa response letter the next day?
Or…Your elf listens to your wishes that you whisper to him/her and reports them back to Santa for you?
Or…Your child explains the Christmas story to your elf using the nativity scene and you make sure the real meaning of Christmas isn’t lost in translation.
Or…Your elf brings gifts from Santa and places them under the tree throughout the month just because he caught you being an awesome kid?
We decided that the pros outweighed the cons and “Elsa” the elf was born. She doesn’t get into mischief at all. She does, however, move around our house (but just because it is fun to watch the kids try to find her in the morning). Santa writes letters to the girls but every letter talks about the true meaning of Christmas and encourages them to “Go be like Jesus.” Elsa brings the girls gifts (PJ’s for Christmas Eve night and a book about Christmas when she arrives at our house the first time). And lastly…we don’t use our elf, Elsa, to threaten our kids. We reprimand them like we always do and leave the elf out of it…she is there to report good things to Santa.
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