The Magic of the Elf on the Shelf

I hadn't heard about the Elf on the Shelf until this year. How did I hear about it? I saw friends of mine had adopted an Elf. They were posting pictures of the Elf and the naughty and nice things he was doing.

After seeing all these pictures I decided I had to find out more! Here are the things you need to know about the Elf on the Shelf:

• He watches the children and reports back to Santa every night while the kids are sleeping.
• The Elf has to be named and adopted by the family before he becomes magic. Once he has been adopted to your family then the magic begins.
• The Elf is NOT to be touched. If you touch him it will take away his magic.
• The Elf LOVES to play hide and seek every night, when he flies back to your home from seeing Santa he will hide somewhere new. The kids will have to look for him each morning. They may find him being helpful or a bit naughty.
• When Christmas is over the Elf goes back to the North Pole and returns next year at Thanksgiving.

There is a book that also tells you about an adventure of one of the elves. Pretty much any major store will have the elves available for you to adopt. Or you can find them online as well.

Also, the tradition stems back from a tradition of including elves in the Christmas celebration from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions.

I would love to see what your Elf has been up to as he plays hide and seek every night with your children. Please snap a picture and email it to mel@hot1047.com

Here are some places it was hiding or what the the Elf on the Shelf was doing for other people:

Playing with Barbies toys

Decorating the House for Christmas

Decorating a Doll House for Christmas

Drinking Syrup

Getting into the candy or cookies

Dressing up in doll clothes.

Using toilet paper to decorate the Christmas Tree.

Getting the toothbrush ready by putting toothpaste on it.

Holding the brush to remind them to brush their hair.

Eating a midnight snack

Fishing in the toilet for goldfish

Hanging from a light or chandelier.

Sitting in your child's shoe so they find him when they are getting ready in the morning.

Excercing on the excercise machines

Watching "Elf" on the TV, while eating a snack.

Playing on the computer

Hiding in the stockings

Hiding in the tree

Playing with Mom's make up

And many more, but you get the idea. I'm looking forward to adopting an Elf in our home!