Monday, November 28, 2011

Going on an Elf Hunt

If you don't have little kids, you may not be familiar with the latest craze in "Christmas." To be honest, I hadn't heard of it until the other day, but had already managed to successfully block it out of my mind -- until yesterday, that is, when Bear heard about it. Now it's the only thing on my mind.

Elf on the Shelf is the brainchild of a mother and daughter who wrote a best-selling children's book based on their own family tradition. Along with the book comes your very own elf, who you have to name and everything. Here's the fun part, though. Said Elf keeps an eye on your children in the weeks leading up to Christmas and reports back to Santa. Not only does he report to Santa, but he actually flies back to the North Pole every night while your little monsters are in bed and hands in his report in person to the Big Guy himself. No joke! I guess all that flying must make him tired and affect his memory, though, because he never ends up back in the same place come morning. This is the best part for little critters, because it means they have to run around the house looking for him every morning. (Fun!) So Elfie isn't so much an elf-on-the-shelf kind of elf as he is an elf-wherever-the-heck-he-ends-up-in-the-morning-because-Mommy-and-Daddy-were-feeling-kind-of-twisted-the-night-before kind of elf.

Bear came home from his friend's house yesterday full of elf stories. Did we know they had an elf? Where was our elf? Had we seen him? Had we heard him? Bear was ready to launch a full-scale hunt for our lost elf at supper time last night, just as I was trying to get the chicken out of the oven and the vegetables drained. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, tapping his index finger against his cheek, chanting "Where could he be? Where could he be?"

I did some fast thinking and very matter-of-factly explained that the elf always lets me know when he arrives for the season, but he hadn't checked in with me yet. He usually comes on December 1st (see how I bought myself some time...clever Mommy!) so he wouldn't be here for at least a few more days? How many sleeps? Oh, let me count. Four more sleeps, Sweetie. That blasted elf that Mommy now has to find in a small town comes in four more sleeps. Why does your friend already have her elf? Oh, I guess her elf must have come early. Maybe she and her sisters have been especially naughty this year. (OK, I left that part out because Bear would have been repeating that at school this morning, but you have to agree that it's funny.)

Anyway, now Mommy is on an elf hunt. I have to admit that it's a really cute idea and I'm sure we'll have fun with it for years to come, but right now it's just one more thing I have to do, and I only have three more sleeps.

6 comments:

  1. It is a cute idea... we've yet to do it in my house, though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, discovered you from "a mom's view of ADHD". So where ARE you getting that elf? A little figurine from the local Goodwill store? Good luck with that little project! (and yeah, I laughed at that reasoning that those two girls had been especially naughty :)

    Beth B

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Shell The only reason we're doing it here is because my son was totally captured by the idea. There are a lot of things we don't do because of his issues, like parades, pictures on Santa's lap, etc., so this seemed like a great tradition that we would start for him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Anonymous. {a mom's view of ADHD} is one of my favourite blogs, so I'm delighted that you found me there. I managed to find the Elf on the Shelf book and elf at a local bookstore, but all the other stores were sold out. I may have found the last one in town! Granted, it's a small town, but still! I did think of just picking up a little elf somewhere, but Bear's a real thinker. He'd want to know why our elf looked different from the others, was I sure it was the real elf, etc. And heaven forbid if we ever saw the elf I bought in a store! This is a child who reports back to me when the neighbours change their tires -- the day they change their tires. He doesn't miss a thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That thing is as creepy as all hell.
    I'm sure that one morning I'd wake up...go to the cabinet and find that smiling bass turd holding my psychiatric medication pill bottle with a glass of water.
    So yea, no elf in this house.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kimberly -- The elf is kind of creepy looking, but he's old-school. I did laugh at your description of him with the psychiatric meds, though. I can totally see it! You're so delightfully twisted!

    ReplyDelete