Why I Swore to Never Have an Elf on the Shelf and How it’s Been Going Since We Got One
My older sister, Laura, was an early adopter of Elf on the Shelf and her way of making Christmas Magic (and daily magic) is definitely on a level I can never reach! Her family’s Elf, Elfy, arrives with flair each year and has the whole family immediately in the Christmas Spirit and Ho, Ho, Ho-ping for more each day! Elfy NEVER disappoints. He has become a cherished member of their family and makes us all laugh! He has stayed up late making snowflakes that are hung from the ceiling in the morning, has magically decorated their van for Christmas so the family would have the most LIT ride to school, and on and on!
Like Laura, I have 3 kids and since my oldest was an infant we have celebrated St. Nicholas Day – a feast day celebrated on December 6th where you place your shoes out before bed so that St. Nicholas will place little happies and candy canes in them during the night. This is our version of extra Christmas Magic. It’s super special, the kids look forward to it every year, and it’s only one day! Early on in my motherhood journey I realized that having one additional extra special day in December was manageable and worth the effort… and that it was probably about all I could handle.
I also knew that I would never be a great Elf on the Shelf (EotS) Mom like my sister, so why try? I couldn’t even imagine it going well but I COULD imagine it feeling stressful and what Mom wants to ADD stress to this time of year? No thank you! So, no matter how many friends started moving these creepy dolls around their house each night and doing hilarious, mischievous or adorable things with them, I stayed committed to NOT having an EotS
…and then my oldest daughter turned 8.
Because of Covid, my oldest was a virtual kindergartener for a semester and didn’t get to hear all her friends constantly talking about their magical elves. When she was in 1st grade, she became more aware of the elves and asked me a few questions about them like, “Why do so many people have an elf and we don’t?” I would answer something eloquent and profound like, “I’m not sure,” and then we’d move on.
But in second grade, there was an Elf in her classroom and it seemed like she was the only kid in her class without an Elf at home. She was also getting much wiser to the ways of the world: “Mom, I know how we get an Elf! We buy one!” I told her that I thought they were magical and that they magically appeared in some houses and we just had never been visited by one. A few days later, she was shopping with her Grandma, saw one in a store, and begged her Grandma to buy it. Thankfully, her Grandma called me to make sure I hadn’t already bought one before she bought it for her. I took a turn begging and begged her NOT to buy it, because I really didn’t want one. Shockingly, I won that round and breathed a sigh of relief. I THOUGHT we were in the clear for another year!
As a school fundraiser, our elementary school did a “Penguin Patch Gift Shop” for the students to come in and shop for treasures and gifts for their family members for a small fee. I innocently gave my second grade daughter and kindergarten son $10 each to shop in the Penguin Patch. That’s when all my plans backfired! Almost immediately after receiving her money, I overheard my daughter whisper to her brother and baby sister, “Don’t worry! If there’s an Elf on the Shelf at the Penguin Patch, I’m going to buy it, no matter how much it costs! It’s the best gift for the whole family and we’ll finally have one!”
I volunteer at the Penguin Patch so I was completely sure that there would NOT be an EotS there, and it was very tempting to continue Grinching on and let her plan be foiled on its own. But… Christmas Magic. The excitement in her voice as she whispered her secret plan echoed all morning and, as my heart grew 3 sizes that day, I knew she was right: it would be worth the effort.
I called my sister and she literally squealed with excitement and told me, “I’ve been waiting so long for this day! I already bought you an adorable Elf like ours, just in case!” That night I went to her daughter’s high school band’s Christmas concert and came home with Poppy, my new nemesis our new Elf!
I had to admit that he was cuter than the average EotS and I named him Poppy because I was already brainstorming punny cute things to do with him related to “POPping in” on the kids, making POPcorn in anticipation of our movie nights, etc. When the kids woke up, he was sitting in a box of POPtarts (a very rare breakfast item at our house) with a sweet note for the kids, and they were THRILLED. On his first day in our house, he made PopTarts feel like Christmas morning!
For us, our St. Nicholas Day tradition is too special to diminish so Poppy doesn’t come until December 7th – the day after St. Nicholas Day. He still comes in a box of PopTarts and he’s still adorable, simple, and fun. And he still does NOT stay up for hours making sprinkles come out of our kitchen faucet or putting Hershey Kiss poops around the bathroom. He moves around the house playing with their toys, bringing Christmas cheer, and occasionally bringing our Gingerbread Kit or other fun seasonal things that we were probably going to do anyway. My kids LOVE him for it! Throughout the year they talk about Poppy, how much they miss him, and how excited they will be when he comes back. And they laugh all year at the silly things they’ve seen him doing.
I am still not a great Elf on the Shelf Mom and have no intentions of getting better, but I do have great kids and they seem to appreciate my low-key Elf Efforts to add a little extra Christmas Magic to this season. And honestly, that first year with Poppy ended up being my oldest’s last year to believe fully in all the magic of the season, so I have no regrets that she got such a special Christmas wish that year. Now she helps me with ideas for Poppy and she’s my constant reminder that they’re only this little once!
