The Elf on a Shelf = A Parent's Best Friend

So, Chris & Courtnie, Paul's brother and his wife, sent us The Elf on a Shelf about a week ago. He is a blessing, a parent's best friend, a little plastic doll with rosy little cheeks, and red pajamas on. Here is a link to see it for yourself http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home

So, we opened him, up and read the story to the kids. Here's how it goes. The Elf sits somewhere in your house, and is Santa's little spy, or NPA (North Pole Agent), and watches everything your naughty (or nice, but more the first one in our house), and reports back to Santa every night, and comes back by morning, and is in a different spot every morning. It really is quite amazing how he does that. You aren't allowed to touch him, because it makes him loose his magic, or power, and then he can't go back to report to Santa, and then Santa can't come to your house. But you can talk to him until your heart is content, tell him all your secrets, and express your love of Santa, so he can report it all back to the Big Guy.

Well, little Miss Julia, being only three (yes she still does have some of those three year old qualities, not many though), takes The Elf very seriously. One morning, she was HYSTERICAL, and I thought that she chopped off her finger, or burned her hair off, you know, the kind of cry you hear that makes you jump out of your skin, but then later realize it's time to have "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" talk with your child, because she only has a hang nail. So I go looking for her and here is what I hear:

Julia: "I, I, I, I, I, I, aaaaacccciiiiddddeeennntttllllyyy toouucched (as I am searching for a paper bag, to relieve the abundance of oxygen which has caused hyperventilating) the Elf on a Shelf, and I reeee aaaa lllll yyyyy want Santa to come!" WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA "I really did touch him, and now his magic is gone!" WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Me: " It's okay Julia, I'm sure you only touched him for a minute, so he probably didn't loose very much magic."

Julia: "No, I really touched him for a really long time." More spastic hyperventilating.

Keep in mind, I am on the phone with Paul on the other line, and he is in hysterics, only laughing. He tells me to inform her that he will have a talk with Santa, to ask him to fix our Elf on a Shelf, and he will be okay. This somewhat calms her down, and she is a bit better, but is still taking deep incessant breaths, and trying to relieve her complete panic, while I wipe away her crocodile tears, cuddle her, and muffle my giggles.

So, The Elf on a Shelf works. It really does. Instead of us parents saying every two seconds "You better stop that, or Santa isn't coming this year!" over and over and over again, where the kids don't really care because Santa always shows up anyways, even though the night before, they were all expressing their disdain for each other in not so pleasant ways. We just tell the kids "Uh oh, guess who just saw you hit your sister? The Elf, that's strike one!"

The Elf on a Shelf is awesome. Thank you Chris & Courtnie, our favorite brother and sister.