As Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching I have noticed some talk of Christmas fun for children. A really cool way to make Christmas even more over the top for kids is the Elf on a Shelf. We have one at our house. We really like him. I even went so far as to buy a vintage one on eBay so ours would be more unique than most others.
In case you are wondering, Shelf Elves appear sometime after Thanksgiving. Ours sits in an out of the way place in Byrdy’s room. From his high perch he watches carefully for naughty behavior. Every night while Byrdy sleeps the elf sneaks away to the North Pole to report to Santa on Byrdy’s behavior that day. At one time I thought our elf might be able to do more than just sit on a shelf. Then I changed my mind.
It is a clever way to inspire good behavior in children during the time leading up to the big day of gifts, but then I heard of shelf elves who are far more clever than ours. I now know a ten year old who has an elf. Many of her school friends also have elves. Last year one of the more clever elves whipped up a frenzy of activity. Nightly, this elf engaged in all sorts of antics. Treats were left, toy rooms were miraculously wrecked or cleaned. Sometimes toys would be left in special arrangements that seem akin to crop circles. All the other elves had to get busy working overtime to equal or outdo this one elf and keep all the other children from being disappointed in their moms, I mean elves.
Hopefully, we won’t find ourselves in a one-upmanship situation with our elf. In the meantime, I’m really content to just let our elf visit after Thanksgiving, whisper in Santa’s ear every night, move around occasionally and disappear on Christmas Eve.
