You Ironic Little Elf

We are a home with magic - fairies, sprites and the like visit us regularly*.  So why do I have such an issue with The Elf on The Shelf?

Believe me, it is not the story behind the elf stories, which is very inspiring (check out the short film on the website). First of all the elf himself or herself (yes, add earrings and you have a girl) seem to be looking eerily at one, which is probably why I do not like to sleep with dolls looking in the room.  Secondly, the elf is supposed to report mischievous and bad behavior to Santa, but the ironic part is that he creates havoc himself overnight.

I realize that the elf was not originally created for the purpose of encouraging overachieving mothers and fathers to create dastardly and insidious scenarios.  The writers of the story are incredible women and the company behind the products is truly magical.  However, on a given day during the Christmas holiday at least three or more friends post pictures of what their elf was doing the night before.

I have read a couple blogs that write humor based articles describing the odd behavior of parents who go to great lengths to outdo the antics of the night before, or to ultimately outdo (or recreate) a pin on Pinterest.  And in all seriousness, if you want to go to great lengths to entertain your children (and yourself) I commend you, because like I said before we have many little visitors who stop by our home throughout the year.*

What I am suggesting is that I am confused to why a child would be "good" for an elf who is clearly NOT setting a good example.  And in most cases the elf gets exceedingly worse as the holiday season proceeds.  So what exactly is this suggesting?  Santa wants you to be good in order to get gifts, but his elf can be a real jerk and mess up your house and that's okay?

*Fairies, Sprites and the Like
We have a variety of little visitors at our house, and I thought you might want to know who.

Garden Fairies 
Rosemary, Lavender and Thyme visit through our fairy door throughout the year.  They exchange letters with the ladybugs and the ladybugs in leave letters, gifts (Evie loves making little dresses for them) and drawings at their door.  Most of the time the fairies remind them to behave and to be kind.

Sugar Sprite Fairy
The Sugar Sprite Fairy comes on Halloween night and replaces candy with small toys.  This year the girls each received a Littlest Pet Shop toy.  My girls are allowed to keep 20 pieces of candy and the rest is given to the Sugar Sprite Fairy to make her sugar palace.  Interesting fact - the ladybugs still have half their candy stash from Halloween.

Tooth Fairy
Ah, the good 'ol Tooth Fairy!  She comes and retrieves teeth that have fallen out.  She never gives more than $1.  NEVER!  And she occasionally writes a little letter thanking the child for the tooth.  She uses the teeth for her palace.  Gross if you think about it, but structurally teeth would be very strong.  The girls and I wash their teeth before putting them in their special fairy bag (little doll with a bag specifically for the tooth), because we don't want the Tooth Fairy to have a house full of spit and blood.

Toy Fairies
In a brief moment of genius, I created the Toy Fairies.  The ladybugs were becoming so difficult when it was time to clean up their toys.  Jim and I had tried everything.  Everything.  And then, one night, I told them about the Toy Fairies.  The Toy Fairies fly around each night after children go to bed looking for toys that are not properly put away.  They take the toy or toys to give to another child (one with less money) who will take better care of the toy.  Yes, the Toy Fairies have taken toys.  However, after receiving an apology letter, the toys were returned.  Very rarely do we have problems with toys anymore.

The house motto is: If you Believe You Will Receive.  This way if children at school do not believe in Santa (or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, etc) and share their knowledge with my ladybugs, I know that they have a foundation to respond accordingly.  How long will their belief in magic last?  I hope forever.

I do believe to each his/her own, but I find the elf craze to be just that - a thing people think they need to do to have their children experience this "tradition".  My grandparents had an elf JUST LIKE the one that is mass produced today.  When I went to visit, my Grandma would always have to remove the elf from her shelf (top of the curio cabinet) or turn him away from me.  I guess I never liked those elves.

Just don't tell the fairies I said that.