The Elf on the Shelf – Have We Or Haven’t We?

22nd December 2014

Elf on the ShelfSource

Last year I didn’t even consider getting an Elf on the Shelf; but this year I decided I wanted us to get one. I know there are a lot of people for and a lot of people very against the whole idea but I think it could be a nice Christmas tradition for us to have.

If you don’t know what the Elf on the Shelf is, the idea is that the elf has been sent to your house by Santa Claus to see if your child is naughty or nice. You give the elf a name and then he is magic and every night flies back to Santa Claus. In the morning he returns to your house and settles in a different place for the day to watch the fun. The (rather expensive) set comes with your elf and a book that explains to your child why your elf has come to you and asks them to name him or her (you can choose a boy or a girl elf).

I don’t know if people have adapted it from the original idea, but I know a lot of people make their elf a naughty one, so when you come down in the morning he has been positioned in a way to show that he has been naughty. I have heard of people sprinkling flour all around him and have him lying in it because he wanted to make snow angels! I think this is probably all harmless fun, but we are not doing it that way for a couple of reasons. One; I would NEVER remember to sort something out every evening, plus I am not imaginative enough to come up with new ideas. Also, I am busy enough at the moment without creating more work for myself creating the scene of mischief and then clearing it up later. No way hosay. As well as those reasons I just don’t think it really makes sense to have an elf that is watching them to see if they are naughty or nice, but misbehaves every day himself. I know it is just a bit of fun, but how can I tell her off if she then does the naughty thing that the elf did the day before?

So we are just putting him in a different place every night (although most nights we forget and I have to rush down before Ava to shove him somewhere new) and I have briefly mentioned to Ava that Santa Claus has sent him to us to see if she is being a good girl. I don’t want to drive the idea home, because she is still young and I am doing the whole thing more because I like the idea of having the tradition that our elf comes back to us every year and I want Christmas to be as magical as possible for her.

She gets really excited every morning to go down and find where he is that day and she loves running and telling us she has found him and showing us where he is; it’s really cute. When we first read the book together I told her that she needed to give him a name and so she decided to call him Hooey. Where do they get these things from?! I love her incredible imagination and the things she comes out with. I of course had to decide how ‘Hooey’ would be spelt… Daddy tried to say it was Hughy but that changes the name and we couldn’t possibly do that! When I asked her if she was sure she wanted to call him Hooey she said “I’m going to call him Dave”. No you’re not sweetie, no you’re not. So we settled on Hooey. It’s kind of cute (weird, but cute).

I can understand why some people are against the whole idea, but for us it is just an enjoyable, fun addition to Christmas time that we will hopefully continue for years to come. When I was deciding whether we would do ‘Elf on the Shelf’ I imagined Ava much older and being fond of the elf that had spent many Christmases with us and taking him with her when she moved out and I liked that idea so we are doing it!

Are you doing Elf on the Shelf or do you hate everything about it?! I’d love to know in the comments.

 

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