We do a few elves around here.
Yeah, I know, everyone-who-is-anyone is SO on the Elf-on-da-Shelf sleigh.
We were elf before it was cool.
You see... every Thanksgiving, my parents would pack us up for Birmingham. When we visited my dad's mom, Grandmama, there was a felt elf in each of the family rooms. They were there to keep an eye on us kids. My dad, his brothers & sister grew up with them. The elves would magically arrive with Santa when he drove his sleigh in the Christmas parade. And then, they would pack up and leave with him on Christmas Eve when Santa visited. They would give their final report then and there to Santa, who would or wouldn't gift you... just depending. During the year, the elves reported to the Head-Elf Bellsnickle.
We had elves at my house as a kid, but they had an agreement with my mom. They spent the year in a box with the other ornaments, then stayed on just the tree. That's ok. My brother was plenty loud, and we loved to hang out by the tree in December.
When I went out on my own, I had no elves. No one wanted elves. They wanted bows. And glitter. And feathers and ribbons. I eventually did adopt a few elves to live with me and oversee my home during the holidays. Boy! were those elves ever joyful when MLB, then DLG arrived!
My kids, they got it. And every year they get so excited to find the elves. This year, one is perching in the tree. Another, you may have noticed, is perched with the cards in our kitchen/breakfast area. One each staked out a vantage spot in each child's room. (And then each child decided the elves would be happier sitting in their trees.)
Yes, my kids TOUCHED and MOVED the elves!
This whole, don't touch them, but they make mischief and move themselves crud? What's with that? Marketing and competitive parenting. Why, oh why, would elves do things that would only get kids in trouble with Santa? And do those things sneakily at night after visiting Santa???? Makes absolutely NO sense. The marketers obviously confused elves with their flighty cousins the pixies.
Carl handily explained to the kids that the elves are quantum-locked. That's why no one ever SEES them move. And since they have a mission to complete, there's none of this "dancing around the house" stuff. As for the jolly-old-elf himself, Santa? Well, likewise, he is a master of such things as dimensional transcendentality, which is why Santa seems to be everywhere, and why he can deliver a world's worth of toys in only one "night" (24 hours as flying with demarkation.) Yes, it is conceivable that Santa is a Time Lord, too.
Yep, that's our stories. And we're sticking to them.
