The other day while scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post about a woman forgetting to move her elf on a shelf. I had no idea what she was talking about and brushed it off. The next day while in the car, I was listening to Joey and Heather's morning show and heard Joey mention not moving his elf on the shelf, and his daughter kept getting upset. This sparked my curiosity. As time went on, I forgot about it until my mom brought it up to which I asked her what an elf on the shelf was. In case you are like me and had no idea what it was, it's a new Christmas tradition for kids where the elf comes out the day after Thanksgiving and leaves Christmas Eve. He is made to see who is on the naughty and nice list. This new trend of holiday joy became a thing from a children's book called "Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition" written by Carol Aebersold.
It started to become a thing about two years ago and has been growing and become more popular each year. Parents buy this doll for about ten dollars. They then move it around their house every day, it doing something different. The kids go look and see what it's doing. The elf is supposed to be watching to see who is naughty and who is nice, therefore, making it do both naughty and nice things. It has become such an important aspect for kids that they get mad if it doesn't get moved. My mom's friend said that she has to start setting an alarm as a reminder to move the elf because her daughter throws a temper tantrum when it isn't moved.
Parents have started taking pictures of the dolls doing pretty funny stuff. The pictures range from an elf getting taped to a wall to shaving or riding in the car with Barbie. There are so many different ideas on Pinterest for parents to get and do to their elf. It has become a phenomenon, and I wish it had started earlier. Although I feel like my mom would have been one to forget, so it would literally have just been an elf on the shelf. Maybe it is for the best that I didn't have this when I was a kid.
Here are a few examples of what Elf on the Shelf is:
Elves will be elves:
Lifting weights:
Hanging the Christmas lights:
Looking up skirts:
Vandalism:
Doing pushups:
Playing with stickers:
I would have loved this as a kid.
