Elf On The Shelf - A Family Christmas Tradition

From the moment we purchased this item a few years ago, I knew it was going to add a special addition to our family Christmas. My daughter, who was only about 6 at the time asked repeatedly for this elf on the shelf, which at the time I had not heard about...And unfortunately, that year everyone was out of stock. So when the next Christmas season came around, I looked for it and was very happy to find it. So that year, Winters Eve flew in from the North Pole to spend Christmas with our family. The elves come in a gift pack with a book that contains a story of how the Elf On The Shelf came to be and has a special page for the naming process. Winters Eve is the name my daughter chose but we all call her Eve. Eve moves around at night to a different, sometimes funny location where my daughter must look for her and find her every morning. During the evenings when all are asleep she flies back to the North Pole to fill Santa in on how the elf's child is behaving. The child is not to ever touch the elf or it will lose its Christmas Magic and be unable to move. Sometimes Eve will leave a note for my daughter and there is a variety of clothes that are sold separately for the elf. The elf comes as either a male or female and simply consists of a little elf, all in red with a cute little face. Like I said, you can purchase additional accessories and clothing for your elf wherever these Elf On The Shelf Sets are found. It is a beautiful family tradition and one that is looked forward to by all for the entire year. The only issue is that the set is quite expensive, usually costing between 25 and 30 dollars. But it brings with it a new family tradition to be looked forward to every year.

I know there are a lot of negative vibes out there about this but we don't take it too seriously in our house. My son who is four loves his "Elfie" This past Christmas was the first time he really caught on to it. I try to be creative in where I put Elfie each day. My son loves coming downstairs to see what antics Elfie has been up to overnight. It is fun tradition that I will continue with my son year after year for as long as he will let me.
I find the price of them to be a high for the quality of the doll itself. I know it comes with a book at all but $40.00 seems steep. My son got his as a gift. I think I would have waited for some sale to purchase it for him myself.

I think that there are other ways to remind us that Santa is coming. The children in my house dont like it , they say that our little countdown tradition is much better. They like the idea of it ,however they say they will not want to buy it