On Thanksgiving night, something magical happens in our house. Our elves Twinkle and Sparkle (yes we have two, a boy and a girl) return. Each night between Thanksgiving night and the night before Christmas eve these elves fly home to Santa and “report” back to Santa about the children’s behavior.
Some people’s elves do naughty things like make messes, or put themselves in funny scenarios like making snow angles in baking flour on countertops. The key thing for children (and parents) to know is that you can not touch the elf, as this will cause it to lose some of it’s magical powers and possibly become sick. So wherever you put it, that spot is off limits for the day.
The Elf on the Shelf is such a cute idea, every morning the kids wake up excited to look for the elf, and you get a little of that Christmas joy each morning. Until the morning when the kids wake up and they realize the elves didn’t move because you forgot to move them last night before you went to bed. This has happened to me once this year (twice last year) and I use the standard excuse “It was too windy last night, so Santa told all the elves to stay put.” They usually accept that excuse, but they are disappointed, and I feel like it’s one of my bad mommy moments.
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It’s also difficult to find new places to put these elves. I am not creative with the elf scenes. I do not have the time, nor do I want the added pressure of creating scenes for these elves every night. Some people just have too much time on their hands! I do struggle after about three weeks of finding new places to put the elves. There are only so many chandlers, wreaths, mantles, shelves and curtain rods to tuck these dolls into. My daughter even made a comment about how the elves landed in the bathroom twice this year – as if it’s not acceptable to land in the same spot twice in the same year!
Somewhere around the second week of moving the elves, it loses it’s fun and becomes a chore. By December 23 the only gift I want for Christmas is to be able to put away these elves. So this Christmas, no matter what Santa brings, I will be forever grateful that I do not have those elves to be responsible for before I go to bed. That’s a gift in itself!
