Can you believe we are less than a few days away from Christmas??? I sure can’t! It is surely flying on by! One of my favorite family traditions is ELF ON THE SHELF. I honestly looked forward to bringing out our Elf on December 1st! Weird I know! But that was my thing! I loved seeing Jaidens little face light up when he saw that our ELF had moved to a different spot or to see what our ELF was up to. I staged lots of scenarios with ZACK (our ELF), some funny, some cute, and some even mean. As Jaiden got a little older he became less interested in ZACK and I stopped bringing him out. Fast forward to adding MJ to our family I’ve brought him back out but she still doesn’t really get it.
Now that she’s 2 and understands a little more I can finally continue the tradition with her and Jayla. I know a lot of you have your Elves and continue with this tradition and some of you don’t really see the point. That’s totally OK. I see the memes, the “WHEN I WAS LITTLE I DIDN’T HAVE AN ELF ON THE SHELF, I HAD A BELT!” That’s ok too …….I GUESS?! Hrmmm. What I say is, “If you do ELF, GREAT, If you DON’T, cool too!”
I’ve come across lots of different views regarding ELF ON THE SHELF. Some people saying their kids love it, some saying their kids hate it, some saying they don’t have time for it. The truth is, although it may not be for everyone the message is pretty clear : Santa Knows Who’s Naughty And Who’s Nice! Some people out there take the ELF super serious, they bring him out the day after Thanksgiving, with a letter or a treat. Some argue he’s supposed to appear on December 1st. They are super specific with letting their kids know what the rules are and so forth – “The ELF can’t be touched”, “If you touch it it’ll lose its MAGIC”…they go HARD. I believe one time my nephew or niece accidentally touched their ELF and my sister staged this whole hospital scene and the ELF didn’t come back from the hospital until he was well. LOL CUTEEEEEEE ! That’s fine with me, I personally followed all those rules up until NOW.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret : ZACK didn’t make an actual appearance in our home until December 10th! Yikes! LOL (This MAMA totally FORGOT!) I get it, we’re busy and have a lot going on. As if the holidays alone aren’t stressful enough, now we have to worry about a darn little ELF too!. Well, I’m here to tell you that ELF ON THE SHELF doesn’t have to be a burden. Do it your way! It’s ok to tweak the rules for your sake. Bring him out whenever you want, don’t stage any scenes, if your child just so happens to touch the ELF, IT’S FINE, the world isn’t going to end! Just move him around! And if you forget then so what?! A simple “He/She musta been too tired to move!” is fine if your kids do ask!
I remember staying up late just to stage some scenes with Zack, and if I just so happened to fall asleep I would wake up at sometimes 3am to move the darn ELF. I literally would set an alarm to remind me to move it. Stalked Pinterest at times just to get some ideas on what to do with him next. I’d buy tons of props for him. It was basically another job! Why are we moms like this lol? I’m not saying any of that is wrong but right now for me I just can’t do it. So I’ve settled with just moving him from spot to spot (IF I EVEN REMEMBER!) and yes I may or may not stage a little scene here and there but I will not let this ELF take over my holiday and neither should you!
So please do tell me what do you tell your kids when you “FORGET” to move him/her???. As always, Thanks For Reading!
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