When my brothers and I were children, our parents would buy us a flimsy piece of cardboard with punch-out chocolate of suspect quality and call it Advent. I can’t speak for my brothers, but I know I never did manage to eat only one chocolate per day. I was always midway through Advent by December 3rd.
Then all us over-achieving Generation Xers had to grow up and have kids. Suddenly, punch-out chocolates seemed gauche. Positively pedestrian! We created a new kind of Advent calendar. Many knew kinds of Advent calendars. There are Advent boxes and Advent bags. Advent houses and Advent stockings. Advent trees with 24 packages. Advent, Advent, Advent.
And it wasn’t enough for us to swap the delivery mechanism. Oh, no. We had to go and change what we were delivering, too. No foil-wrapped chocolates of indeterminate age and manufacturer for our children! We, in our infinite pre-housing crash wisdom, gave gifts–some big, some small; some fun, some practical–for 24 days straight. It was Chanukah on steroids.
I did that. Guilty, 100%. Our budget didn’t allow me to give gifts for 24 days straight, though, which coincided nicely with the part of me that occasionally thought…something about this just isn’t right. My usual gifts to the boys were Christmas pajamas, maybe some mittens and a hat, and a pair of socks. One year I gave the boys hot cocoa mugs. The remaining 20 days were things like trim the tree or drive around and see lights or watch a movie with mom and dad. Those were fun. We didn’t do the calendar this year. With everyone so sick, especially Nicholas, I just didn’t have the time to get it together. The gift of “experiences” may be free, but it takes time to plan and organize.
Alas, parents far better than I weren’t content stuffing Advent calendars and celebrating Christmas. Of course not! Why be stressed when, with a little work, you can be positively insane? Let’s create the Elf on a Shelf, an androgynous little doll with adoption papers (naturally) that sits in your home watching over children. Every night, the elf goes back to the North Pole and reports to Santa who has been naughty and who has been nice. You move it every night to a new location as proof of its travels. It’s supposed to keep kids in line. So does my withering stare, but okay, fine. I get it. Cute!
But then. Then! We couldn’t leave well enough alone and have the elf move twenty four(ish) times. No. Noooooo. No. Now the elf with the name you register at an online adoption center (naturally) does things while children are sleeping or at school or practicing cello. They upend laundry baskets. They put food dye in the faucets. They make cookies, but (hahaha!) they leave a big mess of flour and cracked eggs all over the kitchen!
Oh my gosh, that silly elf! Whoever is going to clean that up? Is it going to be Papa Claus? Because Mama Claus spent all day shopping for teachers’ gifts and bought her mother in-law a sweater at Kohl’s. Ho! Ho! Ho!
I love my boys. I really do. I read to them. I bake with them. I shuttle them around to all their activities. I volunteer in their classes, team-mom their soccer teams, and pretend like there is nothing I would rather do on this earth than go on a play date. This week we are transferring chrysalises into a butterfly cage and next week making marbled paper. By God, I do not have the time or the energy or the desire to clean up a mess made by an elf on a shelf.
I don’t need an Elf of the Shelf. I need a Ryan Gosling on a shelf, the kind that will write me letters every day for a year. Or a Don Draper on a Shelf. Twenty four days of mixed drinks and nihilism sounds good to me. And after finishing that Fever series last week, I’m all in favor of 365 days of Christmas if it means I get a Jericho Barrons on a Shelf. Make that two dozen Jericho Barrons on a Shelf. I’m a reader; I have lots of shelves. Lots and lots of shelves.
Please don’t judge me. I’m a good mom, I promise. And if you are one of those moms with an Elf of a Shelf who loves to type out elfin letters or clean up messes or leave little presents to your kids from “Belegurphen” or “Ashley,” please know I’m not judging you, either. Everyone is different, and there is room in this town for both of us. There just isn’t room on my shelf for an elf.
p.s. The boys want an Elf of a Shelf so badly they can taste it. Just watch: next year I’ll cave.
My sister was going to try Elf on the Shelf but figured it would scare her kids, ha!
Please tell me you’ve seen this: http://handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com/
That might give you your Ryan Gosling fix ;-)
I hadn’t seen the handmade Gosling, but I’ve seen feminist Gosling and regular Gosling. Gosling is the apple of many a woman’s eye. The handmade one is super funny.
I saw your tweet about the Elf on the Shelf and was like “Huh?”. The idea behind it is incredibly cute, but the actual Elf not so much. Either I am too much of a design snob or not good enough of a mom to allow one of those to reside on one of my shelves. Ryan Gosling would be totally acceptable.
I was wondering how many people knew about Elf on a Shelf. I wasn’t sure if it was just my real life circle that was nuts for them.
Love the Ryan Gosling idea! I for one can say this is one trend I am happy we missed, with my three kids now being in their teens. Once again you hit the nail on the head with honesty and humor. If there is one thing I try really hard to do as a mother it is NOT judge other mother. Thanks for the laugh and stay strong sister (creepy little elf!)
It’s totally a trend, which makes we want to buy one even less!
Not to judge an elf by his visage or anything . . . but he seems a little creepy to me. I’m not sure I would feel right having him lurk about at night . . .
He’s a little “Talky Tina” to me, too.
Oh my gosh, I can’t stop laughing! “It was Chanukah on steroids” actually made me snort. I grew up with advent – it started with a simple felt wall hanging (homemade) with pockets for 24 pieces of candy. One a day. Then it moved to paper boxes in a wall-mounted container from the Current catalog and started to include things like stamps (for the siblings in college), paper clips (back when we actually used paper), rubber bands (will the excitment never end?), candy (the old fallback) and CASH (hello, we’ve hit the jackpot). That went on for many years until we were all grown and married and then my mom discovered these beautiful wooden Advent boxes from L.L.Bean. Be still her heart. Now we not only get a box stuffed with candy and cash-o-la, but it comes with a box (or boxes and bags) of gifts to open daily. You right – Chanukah on steroids. Not that we don’t love it, but since we’re all trying to clean out, it MAY be a bit excessive. Just a thought.
As for the Elf on a Shelf thing – brilliant marketing by someone, but don’t get me started on what I think about it. Hold out…there will be some new mania next Christmas for your boys to beg you to do. Let’s just hope I invent it so that we’ll have the money to pay for those 24 gifts we have to buy (did I mention I do an Advent box for my parents…the madness continues.)…
Wait–we have to do Advent after the kids are grown?! I refuse. ;)
I was going to post the Handmade Ryan Gosling tumblr, but someone beat me to it! Ah well.
We had little punch-out calendars, too, though of the sort that we reused every year, with little molds for the chocolate that mom would refill. I miss that.
We don’t do anything for Advent. We barely do anything for Christmas, now. :/
I miss the chocolate calendars, too. I’m going to do those next year. I think it’s the best: simple, but sweet. And, clearly it’s something I remember as a child.
Amen. Though we do have an elf (ok, 2, one was from my tree when I was a child) I do not post his doings on the web. And honestly, we prefer to have him set a good example, not make messes. We do that all by ourselves, thankyouverymuch. I am grateful, though, for the inspiration, as it’s been a few years with our elves and they need new hobbies. “Adding to the chaos” is not an acceptable choice though.
We do the $1.99 Trader Joe’s chocolate advent calendars, and (oy) the Lego advent calendars.
But if the guilt over not doing a countdown gets to you (ha ha!)–my parents were brilliant…I was an only child/only granddaughter on both sides and got plied with lots of presents. So my parents did the 12 days of Christmas with me and saved 12 presents (some from them, some from others) for me to open until Jan. 6. The rule was, I moved the 3 kings closer to the Christ child (in Italian families, they travel for the two weeks, which is kinda cool) and then opened a present. And my mom was clever, she saved books and games and projects for the “open during break” things.
I am not that clever. But I pass it along as a suggestion for winter burnout!
My parents always celebrated the Day of Three Kings, too. My dad has memories of stuffing straw in his shoes by the door the evening of January 5. You know, for the camels. :)
So… I thought about doing elf on a Shelf – I am slightly susceptible to MPP (Mom Peer Pressure) – and other moms were talking about the delight shining in their children’s eyes when the Elf moved etc. When I mentioned it to my 7yo – he straight up told me that if we got an Elf he’d have to reconsider the whole Santa is Real thing – and lean towards Santa being imaginary. Fair enough. No elf. (I’m not much of a housecleaner anyway, so cleaning up after an elf would have been a very, very low priority.)
+200 points for MPP.
During part of my childhood, we lived in Germany, and started getting those cardboard Advent calendars with the little chocolates inside. It was new and exciting to us–I am quite sure my parents never celebrated Advent with calendars or gifts of any sort. I am content to follow suit with my kids–and Aldi sells the same calendars for $.99 each. My first grader likes them so much, she made an Advent calendar mobile as her “holiday tradition” school project. Special doesn’t have to be complicated.
I had a mom from Mikey’s school this year make Advent calendars for all the kids from her leftover Halloween candy. It was actually a pretty slick (and simple) idea.
MPP = brilliant! Three years ago I went a little crazy and made an advent calendar with 24 little boxes, which really, looked like crap from G/W (duh, it started there!) and didn’t work at all like I wanted. Drove me crazy. This year, we’ve reverted to the awesome punch out chocolates and my girls haven’t complained a bit. Chocolate is chocolate to them. (They make me so proud!)
As for the Elf, I caved and I LOVE it. We look at it as a way to have some silly fun with our girls each day. “Friendly” moves around but will not make messes that take less than 10 seconds to clean. Bake cookies at night ~ no way! One thing I’ve wondered as I look at Pinterest (which may have been created by the devil himself) is are the people setting up these elaborate schemes doing it for their kids or to practice their photography skills and/or fulfill some narcisstic need to overshare?
Also, if you haven’t already, check out Elf OFF the Shelf. Elf is pissed over his name choice and goes on a bender. Needless to say, it is NOT for kids, and will absolutely make your day (unless of course your elf has made flour angles that you have to clean up!)
I keep trying to get on the Elff OFF the Shelf page, but their server must be down. I suspect a whole lotta frustrated moms are on it laughing.
Chanukah on steroids – LOVE! I am Jewish, and when I was growing up everyone got lots of presents the first night, and the kids got the equivalent of generic Advent chocolates the other 7 nights (hair bows, kneesocks, etc.). (And of course Chanukah is not a religiously significant goliday anyway.) Somehow in my family now we do “real” presents for the kids all 8 nights, PLUS we celebrate Christmas. This is one of the years Chanukah starts right before Christmas, and surprisingly the girls were fine with simply lighting the candles every night. Maybe because as they get older they want fewer but far more expensive things, like a digital SLR.
I bought a bag of vintage ornaments that included one of tghose knee-hugger elves, which I think is supposed to sit on a shelf. The girls think it’s the creepiest thing ever and refused to let it stay out. And they are 14 and 22.
Glad to know the slippery slope of gift-y traditions extends across religions. I have a feeling we’ll all be in a waiting room in heaven with St. Peter just looking at us like, seriously?
First time commenter, I just started reading your blog just before your William Morris month. I can really relate and love your posts. As a Catholic growing up, advent was about preparing your heart for the birth of Jesus, not a gift a day. We had an advent wreath, not an elf to deal with ;). I do have a advent calendar of sorts, but it just has a felt candy can that you move from day to day. I totally agree with not playing into the whole elf on the shelf marketing, it is just one thing that ends up in the box 40 yrs down the road, because you never loved doing it, but felt you had to. Only do the things you love!
We have an Advent wreath! I love ours. This year, though, we didn’t light it or do the prayers which breaks my heart. I do have the Christ candle out, so I can at least light that on Christmas.
haha! I always see this all over the internet and it looks like such a cute idea, but SO much work!!
I hope you document YOUR elf’s behavior next year!! ;)
If I get the elf I want, my documenting will be NSFW. ;)
Muahaha!
We have an Elf on the Shelf. It was a gift from my sister-in-law a few years ago. Yep. Imagine my delight. Our children love it though and they looked forward to his arrival this year. Pro: The elf showed up this year and our 5 yr. old transformed into Mr. Manners. I mean, napkin in lap, gracious, chewing and swallowing food before speaking, patiently waiting for others, etc. AMAZING…and we don’t make a fuss about the elf or his “job”. Con: It’s one more thing to forget. I woke up in a panic this morning and poked my husband in the ribs to ask if he had moved the elf.
My sister in-law is really into her Elf on the Shelf. REALLY into it. I say more power to her! I refuse to do it, because I know it would stress me out trying to remember to move it every night.
where exatcly do I buy a Don Dparer on the shelf? that I would pay the big bucks for!
Wouldn’t we all?
I am so glad there was no elf on a shelf when my kids were little as I would even often forget the tooth fairy, imagine having to remember to move an elf every morning for all of December! I have not heard of this here, maybe elves only go as far as USA. As for advent calendars, my kids didn’t get the chocolate ones just the cardboard with images and the year I taped it on a window so the image behind the door glowed in the light seemed like a breakthrough..ok feeling a tad guilty about this stinginess now! I am interested in some of the ideas above, especially Memegirl’s 12 days of gifts..that’s cool. Maybe some of our traditions are different because it’s summer and many families migrate to go on vacation; camping or to a beach-house after Christmas day. Winter requires different entertainments.
Admit it: it sounds like something American-y doesn’t it? Sometimes we can be a bit whacko.
Soooo American! But hey, I lived 5 years in NYC: I love whacko America (well except for green bean casserole but we wont get started on that;)).
Good gravy, where do I go to sign up for 24 days of mixed drinks, nihilism, and Don Draper? That is an advent I can get behind!
We do an advent calendar which is activity based (ex: color a picture using just red & green crayons, make gifts for neighbors), but this year it has been utterly overwhelming for me. I’ve had to pull half the activities and sub in Hershey’s kisses – with no complaints from the kids. I find the Elf on a Shelf idea to be too over the top for my family. We are so busy/ sick in December that there is NO WAY I am even marginally interested in adding something as creeptastic as this.
PS: MPP=genius. I am totally stealing that.
We’ve been sick since Thanksgiving. We STILL haven’t taken a family picture and I don’t know if we’ll send out Christmas cards. This year is a wash.
I’ll take a Don Draper on the shelf also, please. I caved to Facebook pressure and got an Elf this year. My kids (7 and almost 10) aren’t fooled for a second into the good behavior bit. It’s more like, “let’s wake up and see how creative mom was last night.” Creative as in where to put him…because he’s not doing any “elf hijinx” at our house. They are WAY more thrilled with the $2.99 chocolate Advent calendars from World Market.
I think that would be the case around here, too.
eek deleting since someone immediately linked to handmade Ryan Gosling already. It’s helped improve my relationship by enlightening my partner about what I really fantasize about. Actually getting a project done being high on that list.
Hah! :)
LOOOOVVVVED this post. My daughter is 7 and for years we have actually had a little elf (given by an inlaw YEARS ago) that we’d just sort of put on a shelf and would occasionally mention that he was watching. (Apparently this is something that has been around for years since my mother-in-law did it when she was a kid.) But our elf didn’t move, didn’t travel back to Santa, didn’t make messes, or leave treats. Fast-forward to 2011, the whole *Elf on a Shelf* the TV show, the commercials and our little elf isn’t good enough. To add to the craziness, our original *elf* has vanished. I am going to make one last search through the Christmas totes this weekend….but we’re still not caving and getting the new version!!
I had NO IDEA there was a TV show! Hot damn, the people who make that toy are on it. Did you know it was a self published book? Most (if not all) major publishers turned them down. They’re laughing all the way to the bank now.
This is mind boggling.
Also, you just reminded me that my mom forgot to purchase those chocolate advent calendars for us for the first time this year. Seriously. We’ve been getting them every year up till now. When I was a kid I would open all the doors and eat the chocolates and then close the doors back up carefully (and not just on my calendar!). The last few years I haven’t even managed to get halfway through the month remembering to eat one, so I end up with a full calendar.
Hah! Glad to hear I’m not the only kid who blew through the chocolate early. :)
I’m not sure how I can fully express my love for this post. Bless you. Thank you. Please send Ryan to my house when you are done with him! xoxo ~Melissa
Expect him around 2034. He may be weak, so stock up fluids and nourishing foods.
Funny you should mention this – a friend just posted a link to a similar “elf” rant on FB yesterday:
http://peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.blogspot.com/2011/12/over-achieving-elf-on-shelf-mommies.html
Growing up our advent calendars were ones where you got to open a “door” and there was a new little image behind each door. No chocolate, no present. We ended up also getting one when I was older that was a felt tree and you would pull out little velcro backed ornaments with numbers painted on them and “decorate” the tree over the course of December. Again, no candy or presents or anything.
I read lots of blogs – design and others – where I see all of these crazy advent calenders with boxes and bags and gifts and such. I do not have kids. And I wonder, if I don’t have time to do this without kids – who are these crazy people who have the time with kids? Do they sleep? Do they eat? How do they do it all?
Enjoy the holidays. Spend time together…probably the best gift of all.
You would be surprised at the time you find to do something that makes your kid happy. I still can’t believe some of the things I do. O_o
Love this post. No elf here either and I’m happy with that decision.
I’m the type to see a trend like that and run madly in the other direction, though, so I don’t feel an ounce of guilt over our elf-less house either.
My kids’ grandmother gave them an Advent Santa figure about 5 years ago. There’s no prize or treat or even activity involved. You simply move a little Santa hand into a dated pocket on Santa’s long coat. That’s it.
Simple but they fight over who gets to do it!
I have one of those calendars, too. I have it hanging, but we haven’t even touched it. The Advent calendar Mikey’s friend from school made has been doing us fine this year. (THANK GOD.)
Is it me, or did this “Elf on the Shelf” business just kind of appear out of nowhere?? My mother-in-law did this years ago — in fact, she still hides whatever-his-name-is around the house for my husband to find when we go to visit over the holidays. This is the first time I’ve seen the masses respond, though, completely with quirky and clever poses and activities to do with your elf. (I saw one blogger posted photos of decorating tiny cheerios to look like donuts for their elf. Props to her — I’m all for creativity and imagination — but it just looked like so much work… for cheerios.)
Anyway, what this post did remind me of is the power of motherhood. You get to decide: Elf on the Shelf, or no Elf on the Shelf (or Ryan Gosling on the Shelf, which I’m pretty sure you could market right now and make a million bucks). I wish sometimes that we women weren’t so hard on each other, didn’t put so much pressure on each other; no Elf on the Shelf at your house? Fine, just fine. You’re not a terrible mother. Elf on the Shelf with decorated donuts/cheerios? More power to you. To each her own, end of story.
(Sidenote, Jules: This post had me dying laughing at my desk, and other posts of yours have had me in tears from sadness or gratitude. You’ve got serious writing talent, friend. Serious.)
+300 points
I lost it at “Ashley.” Predicting that this particular post of yours really takes off and maybe even helps some other moms (and dads) take a step back from the brink. Maybe it takes just one person to point out that the emperor, er, elf has no clothes.
Haha! I love the Emperor has no clothes analogy.
Yes! You are so right. My kids don’t need another treat/experience every day in December, a month filled with parties, performances, and celebrations. I want an advent calendar for a dismal month like March, something to cheer us all up and give us something to roll out of bed for. In December? Not so much.
I love it–a calendar that gives you a reason for living. :)
I loved reading this…hilarious! Yet, I must be completely out of the loop, since I’ve never, ever heard of an elf on the shelf. I’d like to do the 12 days of Christmas with my boys (a mixture of service and small gifts) but have never done it since we always travel during the holidays. Someday, maybe.
Consider yourself lucky! Elf on a Shelf has been all I’ve heard the last month.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. I needed this one. I feel so much better now.
There are so many things I love about this post! I absolutely agree with the Advent calendars being out of control (we still do the pop out chocolate kind and my daughter couldn’t be happier about it. Why try to fix what ain’t broken?)
The ‘Elf on the Shelf’ freaks me out (don’t even get me started on that!!)
However, my absolute favorite part of this was Ryan Gosling on a Shelf or Don Draper… INDEED! where can I get my pair? Thanks for so many great posts lately. I haven’t been commenting, but I’ve been reading & enjoying them all.
Thanks, Phaedra! I’m telling you, I’m a better blogger without flour and sugar. ;)
I think I need to invent a line of Beefcakes on a Shelf. A long line of highly delectable little men waiting to do our bidding during the holidays. Don can make the drinks, Ryan will do the shopping, and I’m sure I can think of a few others who can go to the Christmas programs. ;)
We’ve never done an Advent calendar before this year. When I was a child we had a paper Santa with 25 circles for a beard. Each night I would place a cotton ball until his entire beard was built and it was Christmas.
At the beginning of the month, my MIL bought each of the girls a Playmobil Christmas Post Office count down Advent-y thing. It has me and the kids all kinds of confused. Santa comes on day 6 and when you finally get your Christmas Tree on day 24, you know it’s Christmas Eve. Next year I do believe I will be switching things around with the big man in red coming after said tree.
That beard idea is actually super cute.
Bwahahah… Still laughing here. You crack me up, Jules!
oh you crack me up! I kept seeing the Elf on the Shelf and wondering what the big deal was. Seems like more work than its worth, but I’m lazy so who knows.
Eons ago my Great Grandmother made an advent calendar out of felt and burlap. It hangs on the wall and the pockets contain tiny ornaments that you hang on the felt tree. I loved it as a kid and my kids do to. Same ornaments every year, I just swap them around the calendar. I think all it really does is stave off the desire to rip open packages…getting to open an ornament everyday is just keeping the monsters at bay until Christmas morning.
That sounds really neat.
I can see the allure with the Elf. I really can. You do crazy things just to see your kids get excited! But, at some point, you have to draw a line in the sand. On my beach, the elf and I are on opposite sides of the line.
Okay, THANK YOU for making me feel like less of a mean mom.
A friend of mine does the elf thing, and she just posted a photo of the elf in the bathroom sink taking a “bubble bath,” but the bubbles were marshmallows. She posted that her kids eeked, then all her friends chimed in. I was thinking that she wasted the whole bag of marshmallows…
I’m with you on the marshmallows.
My poor child just gets to open a little window to look at a picture on her advent calendar – but she is still pretty excited about it because of the count down to Christmas. The whole advent thing isn’t big here in New Zealand – chocolate a day ones common , but the elf on the shelf? Not something big here that I am aware of anyway.
I’m curious to see if the trend will move across the world…like a bubonic plague.
My mother gave Elf on a Shelf to my son last Christmas – WHYYYYYYY?????? It was one more thing for me to try to remember and after a couple of days my son said it isn’t real any way (he was 4) and he just wanted to play with it, so I stopped trying to make it do anything and now he just puts it in the headboard of his bed and I don’t have to deal with it anymore. Most of the time my child believes in magic but not about this – I couldn’t be more relieved!
I think that before these are given as gifts the parents should be asked if they want to do the work that is involved otherwise it isn’t a gift it is a punishment! And it is one more thing I have to store in the attic – we are trying to minimalise the house – everywhere! I got rid of a bunch of Christmas decorations when I was getting them out this year and it felt so GOOD! (Unfortunitly my son still wanted the elf on a shelf which he named Elf on a Shelf so much for one of those cute elf names!
(And my mom sent my son THREE – yes three not one advent calendars this year – thanks for going overboard mom. I love the clutter.)
My mom is in Argentina right now, which is a good thing. Had she caught wind of Elf Fever, I’m pretty sure my boys would have one right now.
You’re not alone. Have you read this? http://unclutterer.com/2011/12/14/unitasker-wednesday-the-elf-on-the-shelf/
Convince your boys it’s creepy and they won’t want it anymore. :)
No, I hadn’t seen that! That was hilarious. :)
Our Elf on a Shelf is ontop of the Christmas tree. I plan to keep it there. mwhahahaha
We got an elf this year after one of our friends said she loved it. I must be in the minority. I think it’s kind of cute in a vintage way. We don’t do anything special with it. No crazy stunts, just move it around the room. I don’t think it’s really impacted her behavior, but she has fun looking for it in the morning.
On a separate note, I still like the advent calendars with the chocolate. Reminds me of my childhood.
I’m getting those calendars next year. They remind me of my childhood, too, and I would like Mikey and Nico to have something like that.
I definitely think the shelf elf looks creepy. With my kids, we have an elf that keeps an eye on things. The difference is this elf moves so fast you can’t see him. And you never know if he’ll be around, because he visits lots of other kids as well. The results are the same, the threat is real, except there’s no extra work for me.
“The threat is real” made me laugh out loud. HILARIOUS.
Oh, please, PLEASE don’t cave next year! I need to know I’m not the only mom refusing to do it.
Of course, I HAVE totally caved on Lego Advent Calendars…but I blame that more on my husband, anyhow. He has one, and the boys share one. They’re all happy, and I hear no requests for elves…so, I guess I’m happy, too.
My MIL bought us the elf last year. We managed to remember to move him around last year. This year, he spends days at a time in one spot. My youngest is almost 4, and he thinks it’s funny when it moves, but is also a little scared of it. It is a little creepy to think about having some little guy watching… always watching. There is just so much to do this time of year, I kind of resent having the responsibility of moving an elf given to me. I feel much the same about Amish “Friendship” bread. Every day I forget to move that elf, or feed that stupid starter feels like I have failed. Who needs that? I tossed the starter. And that elf will only have to hang around one more week. He might go missing next year.
My sister-in-law gave us Elf on the Shelf last year, because my two nieces (who are older) have loved having him. To be completely honest, the book is poorly written and the elf himself is kind of creepy looking, but since my nieces loved the experience so much we decided to give it a try. We don’t always remember to move the elf. Sometimes my three-year-old notices the elf has moved, and enjoys it, but he isn’t super enthused about it. I really don’t understand how this has become such a huge phenomenon. (and we certainly are not doing anything more than simply moving the elf around, as we remember!)
I did do a homemade Advent calendar this year. It’s a mixture of small toy (kazoo, little Schleich animals, stickers, things like that), and notes for activities. The activities are generally things we have planned to do anyway, like attend a Christmas party, watch The Grinch, or go pick out our tree. It was a fair bit of work to put together, but I have to admit it has been fun.
ha! great post. I was reading something on facebook the other day about these crazy people who make the Elf “do” things (like the cookies and flour) – honestly, those people have too much time on their hands! We got an Elf this year, and he’s lucky if I remember to move him. Last night, my daugher misbehaved and got in trouble, and she was MORE upset about the fact that the Elf saw it than she was about what she did! And I keep thinking about how my kids are going to kill me when they get older and find out the real deal with the Elf. I feel kind of guilty.
Also, “Don Draper on a shelf”? Genius! Where do I sign up?
Don Draper on a Shelf is the most fabulous idea I have ever heard.
Anyway, we have the Elf. He moves daily and my 7 year old has a great time hunting for him every morning, but I refuse to buy into the whole naughty elf thing. It seems counter to the whole purpose to me. If the elf is naughty, what credibility does he have to report on a kid’s behavior to Santa??
I want a Ryan Gosling on a shelf too. I actually thought that this was only what one blogger did, I had NO idea it was phenomena?! I saw her cute photos and thought how creative, but now I know it’s a ‘thing’ go figure?
I have to admit … for the last 2 years I bought into the homemade Advent calendar for my 4 1/2 year old. Both years, on November 30, I stayed up way too late to put the fill the little dixie cups with a treat and a message. This year I couldn’t be bothered and instead waited until Dec 13 when I went out and got a Playmobil advent calendar ON SALE! He loves it and it’s easy. Done.
This post made me laugh out loud! I don’t get the whole Elf on a Shelf thing … seems a little creepy!
Great writing Jules – thanks for the giggles this morning! (and I had no idea what an “elf on the shelf” even was – thanks for clearing that up) :-)
Ha & LOL!!! Could not agree with you more and if I can also chime in…what about all of the people who then post there elves antics on Facebook! Enough is enough already. I am with you. I have better things to do than sweat our elf on the shelf. I forget to move him as it is…I certainly can’t find the time to “style” him in some creative hijinx. What I realized, however, after thinking it over was this: that is not a fun part of parenting for me. I am just not that mom who is going to nuts trying to up the magic of Christmas. I think Christmas is magic enough!