Is anyone doing the Elf on the Shelf this year?
If you haven't bought your elf yet there is also a Randall Reindeer for much cheaper at the Christmas Tree Shops ($6 instead of $30).
Same idea as the elf -- you read the book, you move him around the house, he reports back to Santa. 
My kids are loving it! And behaving better under Randall's watchful gaze. Of course, we'll see if this can continue until Christmas...

This might be a super dumb question given the fact that I don't have kids, but if you do Elf on the Shelf, come December 26th, how do you get your kids to behave?

Bribe them with something else of course. What's intrinsic motivation anyway?

In Response to Re: Elf on the Shelf:


You beat them!

We have an Annalee Elf (from T.J. Maxx), the kids LOVE him.  I didn't buy the full book or anything.  I just told my kids a few years ago that I had never heard of it before, but that a friend told me (which is true) that if you write a letter and ask Santa, he will send an elf from the North Pole who reports back to him every night, and gets into a little mischief from time to time.  Also, that if you touch him, he loses his magic powers. I asked if they wanted to try it and they immediately wrote letters and Louie appeared (they named him).  We're on day 3 this year and already he forgot to move last night.:( I am going to set a reminder alarm on my phone for 10 p.m. nightly, so I won't forget!

My friends tried it with their kids and didn't find that the kids behaved any better, but that the tattling on each other was directed to the Elf to pass it along to Santa, instead of the parents.

They decided it was worthwhile just to give themselves a break from that for the month of December, lol.

I think the Elf balances out some of the amped-up, sugar-fueled, Santa-crazed behavior around the holidays, plus -- it's fun.  My DD is too young, but my niece LOVES looking for her Elf in the morning. 

We got one as a gift last year, so I'll dig it out soon just so he's out and about for the next time my niece comes over.  To me, it's just part of the joy of the season, with some extra Santa muscle when needed.  I don't think we'll suffer Elf Withdrawal come January. 

What are young mothers doing to themselves? I understand that the children are discussing the elves actions among themselves at school- providing pressure to have a creative elf.  Isn't it enough to do the decorating, shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping, out fitting, gift giving, party hosting and make sure you fit in something charity related? WHY would you add this to your holiday routine?

I once heard Martha Stewart seriously suggest that you embroider the children's nightgowns to match the embroidered tablecloth she was showcasing for Christmas breakfast.  This holiday elf is on the same level as that- crazy.

Today's picture shows an elf sitting amongst gingerbread houses.....MULTIPLE gingerbread houses.  That's setting the bar pretty high, women!

One more lie so Mommy doesn't have to be the bad guy...just like the Candy Fairy and the Pacifier Fairy etc. 

Last year my two year old son was afraid of the elf. So I didn't even bring him out this year. And I do have too much to do - I can't remember to find him a new place to roost every day.

We love our advent calendars and I want to bake cookies this weekend - oh and try to find time to put together the gingerbread house kit I bought at the grocery store.

And I'm not sure any amount of bribery or tattling to Santa will improve the behavior of 3 1/2 year old twins. They are who they are. When they want to be good, they are very, very good. Sometimes (like today at the eye doctor) they are horrid. And let's face it - is there a parent out there who isn't going to have Santa come no matter how their kids behave? Am I really going to tell Santa to keep his gifts because DD threw a tantrum when she didn't get the sticker she wanted? To be quite honest I'd like to call Santa and tell her the nurse was a bit short with us and caused a huge meltdown because she couldn't take an extra 30 seconds to let my daughter choose another one. Oh well.

Merry Christmas everyone!! :)

Santa knows...she's probably getting coal. ;)  I LOVED opening the Advent calendar doors every year as a little child...always wanted to open the next day's, too, so it was a lesson in patience.

We have an elf this year, but purely by accident.  DS who is 3.5, found my nearly 40yr old elf ornament and because his friends have elves he wanted one too. We're actually having fun with "Shifty" and trying to find him in the morning. Although DS did tell me last night that Shifty said I wasn't getting any presents!

I am so glad to see that the "sense of the meeting" is against this horrible manufactured "tradition." 

Sometimes we parents go along with what others do never realizing that our attempts to make our children happy actually terrorize them.  Disney movies are a case in point - mine was given a set and it turned out that Beauty and the Beast gave her nightmares because of the wolves! The ugly stepsisters made her cry because they were so mean!  The original Parent Trap horrified her because Maureen O'Hara hit Brian Keith.

I know a little girl whose "Elf on the Shelf" terrified her as well.  We have forgotten that children's imaginations are not like ours.  They are more tender, they are not yet rational beings.  Santa's terrifying enough when seen in the mall - we don't need his enforcers sent to the house like a Mafia legbreaker!

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