Elf on the Shelf

I wish I had thought of this wonderfully imaginative concept! Have you heard of this? Have one?  You need to get it!

The Elf on the Shelf is a book, along with an elf doll, that comes as a set. The basic concept of the story is, "how does Santa know if you've been naughty of nice?"  Well he sends an elf to watch over you, keep track of the naughty and nice things you do or say and then reports back to Santa every night.  He flies to the North Pole at night and returns in the morning, only to sit in a different place to watch you.  And if you touch him, his magic goes away, he disappears and then can't tell Santa the nice things you've done, so you might not get your presents. Of course the book has more details and situations that explain the elf is everywhere watching you, but you get the general idea.

You are supposed to name your elf, so we named ours 'Snickerdoodle' after the cookie.  This cookie is one our family has made for generations at Christmas time, so I thought that it was a good name.  I read the story to Christian and we put the elf on a side table in the living room.  When Christian went to bed, I moved the elf to another location.  In the morning I excitedly told Christian, "Let's go see if Snickerdoodle came back from the North Pole!".  He ran into the living room, directly to the spot where he was sitting the night before, only to turn to me with huge eyes and a worried look and said, "oh, he didn't come back."  I reminded him the story said the elf would be sitting in a different place and that we had to look for him.  So the search began and a few minutes later Christian spied him, saying excitedly, "There he is! Snickerdoodle, you came back!"  I told him good morning and Christian did too and off we went to eat breakfast.

This scene repeated for two days and on the third day, Christian was testing his independence :)
Me: Christian, please put your toys away.
Him: No!
Me: Christian, I asked you to put your toys away.
Him: No!
Me: Now I am TELLING you to put them away right this minute.
Him: No! (and threw the toy across the room)
Me: Ohhhh, Snickerdoodle saw that and is going to tell Santa.
Him: (slight hesitation, with doubt in his eye, but quickly changed...)I'm sorry Mommy. Sorry Snickerdoodle, please don't tell Santa, I'll be a good boy.
OH YEAH!  I am using this elf thing as long as I can :)

The fourth night I forgot to move Snickerdoodle but Christian didn't catch on the next morning....whew!
I had to travel for work these past two days and my parents came to stay with Christian. When they walked into the door, Christian pointed to Snickerdoodle and in a rushed jumbled way, told them all about the elf (which required translation from me). The next morning, he ran around the house looking for the elf, spied him and ran to tell Grandma and Grandpa where he found Snickerdoodle. I called them that night to remind them to move the elf.  They told me that despite Christian not feeling well, he did look for the elf the next morning. It's such a fun game for me, Christian loves it and it gives me some "threatening power" to get his attention to behave.  I've also added to the ploy that Snickerdoodle will see if Christian goes poo poo on the potty, will tell Santa and then Santa will bring him an extra special Christmas present.  So far that's not working for me :(

If you have a little girl, they have a skirt you can buy to put on the elf too!  They've thought of everything!  It's a fun thing to start as a tradition.  Check out the Elf!
~Amy