A few years ago my kids asked me if we were getting an elf on the shelf. I was feeling overwhelmed by the holidays and so I just flat out told them, “No, because do you know who moves the elf around? Its the mom, and I already have too much to do.”
Now before you tell me that I’m denying my kids the fun of believing in an elf I should tell you that we have plenty of holiday fun in our home. We get visits from the Easter Bunny and a mischievous leprechaun. We have an over the top Valentine’s Day party just for our family. We attend firework shows on the Fourth of July. Every year I make the kids’ Halloween costumes. And the kids all believe that Santa Claus is real.
That last one is why I can’t do the Elf thing. It’s hard enough maintaining the magic of Santa. I really can’t be expected to help my kids believe in two mythical creatures in the same month.
Frankly, I’m pretty surprised my kids still believe in Santa. My twins are 8, and are starting to hear from their friends that maybe Santa isn’t real. So far they are defending him. One of the twins swears she saw Santa’s shadow a few years ago so she makes sure she tells all the doubters about that. But it’s probably only a matter of time until they realize the truth.
My parents were pretty lax about traditions involving Santa. They would put presents out under our Christmas tree all December long. On Christmas Eve they put the presents into the back seat of our car. My dad drove to a nearby hill, and “left the presents there for Santa to pick up.” For a few years I bought into this story, and was surprised when the presents magically re-appeared in our living room every Christmas morning. However, I started to doubt when I was six years old. That Christmas I pretended to be asleep, and overheard my parents start putting out the presents in the living room. My parents were still able to surprise me though. They’d brought some large decorations home from a Christmas Party, and put those up in the living room. That year I learned the truth about Santa, but I also learned my parents were pretty good at surprises.
I’m not sure what my reaction to an Elf on the Shelf would have been as a child. But I do know that I didn’t need elaborate Christmas pageantry to help me get into the spirit of the season.
All I see from Elf on the Shelf is one more thing on my to-do list which also includes going to work, supporting my husband in school, making sure the kids make it to school every day, doing laundry, keeping up on feeding everyone, motivating the kids to help clean the house, doing more laundry, and so on.
I also make time for plenty of fun in our home at Christmas time. We bake and deliver cookies as a family. We play in the snow. We attend parties and school performances. My husband and I shop for presents and wrap them. We focus on what we enjoy and we leave that elf out of it.
I don’t see the elf improving the quality or amount of our Christmas cheer, and I really don’t need one more thing to do every night.
I have been doing the elf for the last 4 years and it is stressfully fun? It that is even a thing. Reading this made me wish I had gone your route a long time ago.
I love doing Elf on the Shelf. It’s fun for me. Not stressful in the least. It takes me a couple minutes or less do it each night. I don’t like how people make it sound like a bad thing. If you don’t want to do it, don’t. But we aren’t bad if we do. 🙂 To each their own is what I say.