By Louise Flanagan
The Elf on the Shelf is one of the most contentious Christmas traditions out there.
A lot of parents bemoan the festive arrival of an elf in their home – probably because he gets up to all manner of mischief throughout the month of December.
We have an elf in our house. His name is Elfie – ingenious, I know – and he’s been coming to our house for five or six Christmases now.
I can totally relate to parents who publicly declare they’re sick of the elf, but deep down, I think that most parents secretly ‘enjoy the misery’, Mrs Doyle style!
For any of you who are living a leisurely, elf-free existence, I’ll give you a quick lowdown: The elf mysteriously arrives in the house on the 1st of December, and each night thereafter, he gets up to some manner of mischief – much to the delight of the kids who find him in the morning.
He plays pranks, such as spelling out the word ‘fart’ on the kitchen table with beans, or draping toilet roll around the Christmas tree.
Commercial tradition dictates that you’re not allowed to touch the elf; otherwise it could lose its magic.
Rumour has it that the original elf didn’t pass the stringent safety standards to be CE certified, so the clever marketing blighters came up with an oul ‘don’t touch it’ yarn to circumnavigate the issue. Hopefully that’s cryptic enough. The long and short of it is, you’re not supposed to touch the elf.
This rule can lead to all sorts of headaches and heartaches though.
The first year our elf came, we started out with the best of intentions and explained to the kids that they weren’t supposed to touch the elf.
But Evan was only a toddler and Lucy, two years his senior, nearly had a conniption when he innocently grabbed the elf for a hug. “You’ve ruined the magic!
The elf won’t work now.
Silly Evan! You’ve ruined everything!” Tears, tantrums, snots. The works.
And that was how we figured out that you actually can touch our elf without ruining the magic; he enjoyed his usual night of mischief after the incident of the hug.
I’ve heard that other people’s elves don’t like being held and can temporarily lose their magic if they’re touched.
When my kids ask how come we can touch our elf while others can’t, I remind them that elves are like people – all different, all unique.
Thankfully, our elf is friendly and human contact doesn’t seem to faze him.
Elfie never does anything too elaborate or messy. I really couldn’t handle that.
I’ve seen photos of ‘playful’ elves who have thrown a bag of flour all around the kitchen, or sellotaped all of the kitchen presses shut, or wrapped cling-film around every pair of shoes in the house.
If our elf did something like that, I’d dropkick him out the door.
He normally just plays with the kids toys or blends in with the disorder of everyday living in our home.
It tends to be on his final night that he plays his finest prank before returning to the North Pole with Santa.
He always seems to target Daddy, for some reason.
One year, Elfie painted his toenails bright red! The kids got a right laugh and it was all well and good until we decided to go swimming shortly after Christmas and my husband realised in the changing room that he hadn’t taken the time to remove it!
The kids found it extra hilarious that Elfie’s prank lived on after his departure.
Will the elf return next year? I hope so – mainly because I think the kids would miss the craic with him if he didn’t. And I’d miss the wonder on their faces. So yes, maybe I enjoy the misery!
Louise Flanagan is an admin of Letterkenny Babies Facebook page and the author of the children’s book series, Dragonterra. www.dragonterra.ie
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