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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Is the Elf on the Shelf more trouble than he’s worth?
I know moms going to great extremes with their elves. Can’t they just sit there?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I know a lot of families who are really into the concept of the Elf on the Shelf. (Some of their elves are knock-offs but they serve the same purpose.)
But to me they seem to be a lot of trouble.
Some of the families have the elves pretend to do things. Sometimes they do good things — like clean up the house or do laundry. So the mom is up late setting up some scene where it looks like an elf is doing all the housework. (Some of you had a problem with Santa getting credit for buying all the gifts, now we’re going to give the elf credit for the housework.)
Other families I know have mischievous elves who are doing “bad” things around the house. They create messes — pull out clothes, turn over furniture.
One of my friends had the elf leave a mess of cereal on the counter like he was trying to make the kids breakfast. So the mom had to make a mess, clean the mess and then really make breakfast. I’m just not on board.
That same friend has a neighbor who has the elf that does the housework. My friend’s daughter was upset that their elf wasn’t also doing housework. She wondered if they were too bad for the elf to help. So this poor mother schlepped to the donut store early one morning and left donuts for the kids from the elf. She also left a note from the elf saying he just didn’t like housework. It wasn’t anything the kids had done wrong.
Really, do I need that kind of hassle?
I’m all for the elf sitting quietly observing and reporting back to Santa Claus. The elf and I don’t need to have any contact. He’s just an observer in the house, not a participant.
What does your elf do in your house? Is he worth the trouble?
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