This past fall, I found this in a box of 25 cent items. At first, I passed on him, but then I went back. Although I initially found him scary, his kitchiness won me over. Although it was still prior to Halloween, I set him up on our shelf.
Then came the commercials for
Elf on the Shelf. I couldn't resist singing the song to my kids and replacing the lyric "...each and every Christmas" with the lyric, "...watching you be bad!" The older kids found it funny, but my two youngest are sincerely disturbed by it. They've become very distrustful of the elf. It could be the cocky pose in which I've placed him. He looks down arrogantly upon us. "Why is he watching me?" my 2-year-old asked just a few minutes ago. I explained the candy vs coal scenario after which she assured me she preferred candy. My 5-year-old despises him. Freakish gnome, daring to rat him out to the big man. I can understand his hatred of the elf -- out of the family, he probably runs the highest risk of being reported . If the elf ever disappears, I'll know who to blame.
As for the Elf of the Shelf website, it's unwieldly at best. And it took a significant amount of time to dredge down to the reason for its existence (which oddly isn't explained in the commercials). It's a promotion for a children's book which I haven't even seen in the book stores (and I was just in the children's section of a Barnes & Noble several days ago).
it's funny... i grew up with one of those shelf elves, too, and i always loved him (but i don't recall being told the part about him spying on me all the time, so there's that), but i never realized it was tied to a children's book until the last year or so. maybe it's getting a new push in recent years for some reason (new owner of the rights?)
ReplyDeleteanyway, i always thought those elves were just generic christmas decorations until i ran across the connection to the story. there is something kind of off-putting about him spying all the time. the sneak!