Dusty: Our Elf on the Shelf

Apparently I'm a little behind the curve on learning about the elf on the shelf.  Anyway, for those who don't know, the Elf on the shelf is supposed to watch over your kids and report back to Santa at the North Pole each day on whether they were naughty or nice.  Upon return, the Elf finds a new place to watch from in the house. The one rule with the Elf is that he cannot be touched or he loses his magic.

 Ideally, the kids will behave knowing the elf is watching and that their presents for Christmas are at risk and also have fun in waking up every morning.  Not only did the elf not prove to increase behavior, the few times I tried to threaten, Mallory just told me that either 1) she would be better the next day so he'd report back to Santa that day that she was good, or 2) that she would just write her own list and report back to Santa (this list was always with her on the nice list and Jared on the naughty list).

 Additionally, the Grinch that lives in our house, I mean, Eric, disagrees with the idea of Santa and lying to your kids.  I'm not a trained psychologist but I think this may stem back to his feeling of deception when he found out Santa wasn't real when he was younger...who knows.  Every time I'd try and say, "Be nice, the Elf is watching," Eric immediately responded with, "You shouldn't make good choices because the elf is watching, you should just make good choices."  While that is true, and I don't agree with lying to your children, I think the idea of Santa adds to the magical feeling of Christmas. 

Anyway, back to our elf.  We named him Dusty, however, I think we only called him that the first day. His nickname is apparently "Elfie" and that is what he was called for the remainder of his time with us.

In short, behavior didn't get better, the searching for the elf was the highlight of each morning, and on a few occasions when Jared touched the elf, Mallory had meltdowns in fear that his magic was gone.

Just for the record, you wouldn't think hiding the elf everyday would be a big deal, but it's the last thing you think to do when your tired at the end of the day.  Then Eric wouldn't realize where I had already hid the elf and would hide him in the same place that he had been before.  There were a few times he fell over and we had to tell Mallory the elf was taking a nap and there were a few times he forgot to change places and I had to tell Mallory he must have been too tired to fly back to the north pole (these days were dramatic because she was convinced he didn't come back because Jared made him lose his magic).  

 There are many blogs and websites where people get really creative with what their "naughty" elves do (i.e. fill the bath with bubbles, get flour everywhere and make a snow angel). Some of the ideas are cute, but I could barely remember to hide him, let along make him do anything that would ultimately end up in a mess for me to clean up.  Maybe next year we can get a little more creative....

Day 1, Elfie arrived in the box.

On Day 2 he was gone....

No fear, he returned.

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

Day 8:

Day 9:

Day 10:

Day 11:

Day 12:

Day 13:

Day 14:

Day 15:

Day 16:

Day 17:

Day 18:

I forgot to mention, Jared was OBSESSED with the elf.  He always pointed to the elf and wanted to be looking at the elf all day.  He was really good at finding him too.  Most days he found them before Mallory.

Day 19:

ELFIE!!!!

Day 20:

Day 21:

We didn't get our elf until we were already in December, but next year we will plan to have him arrive after Thanksgiving. They still ask about Elfie every day.  I may need to get something else to hide everyday until next year.