The elves are back!

[disneydreamer1980]

It’s that time of the year again, time for the stressful elves to return. We have two elves (one boy and one girl) and the three “elf pets” (arctic fox, reindeer and St. Bernard dog), and they always return the morning after Thanksgiving. They always bring something with them on their return day, this year it was a bunch of elf themed games and some candy. It’s so stressful but it’s such a big part of my kids Christmas, and even the older kids love them. Any other elf stressed parents out there?

 

[disneychrista]

How fun. I am glad, though, that this wasn't a thing when my kids where of age. "Santa" was hard enough.

 

[obsesseddisneyfan]

Our elf stays with us year round. She talks to the magical people in the world and lets them know whats going in our house. She leaves for a while every time the tooth fairy needs to come, leaves after Christmas to take a vacation with Santa. She just moves around the house she does not do anything nor bring anything.

 

[barkley]

How fun. I am glad, though, that this wasn't a thing when my kids where of age.

me too! that said-back when my kids were little and everyone was not so techno savvy dh set up an email account and named it for 2 elves at the north pole. our kids would get random emails on the (single) computer in the house from 'sparkle' and 'jingle' who somehow managed to always be peaking in on them 'to keep santa's lists up to date'. they might get a 'good for you' for something their teacher had mentioned to me at pickup (so they knew the elves were also watching them at school) or a light 'uh-oh' for bickering with each other. we had a good few years of a run with sparkle and jingle-i miss them.

 

[georgina]

. It’s so stressful but it’s such a big part of my kids Christmas, and even the older kids love them. Any other elf stressed parents out there?

My kids are adults, and the part about it being so stressful is why I would never have done it. There is enough stress around the holidays without adding more, IMO. I do not deal well with stress as it is. I don't know how old your older kids are, can they help out with whatever the heck you have to do with the elves (and pets? never heard of that one!)

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My kids are adults, and the part about it being so stressful is why I would never have done it. There is enough stress around the holidays without adding more, IMO. I do not deal well with stress as it is. I don't know how old your older kids are, can they help out with whatever the heck you have to do with the elves (and pets? never heard of that one!)

My older daughters will sometimes help me with them, make them do cute or funny things. DH goes to bed earlier than my kids most nights because he gets up super early for work, so he’s no help. The pets mostly just kind of sit there around the elves. If I’m feeling particularly not like messing with them I’ll just hide them real quick for the kids to find them or just sit them somewhere. It certainly is extra stress but the first thing my kids do in the morning is run to see what the elves are doing. They love them.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

A couple pics of some elf shenanigans from last year. I’m trying to come up with some ideas for this year. After several years of this is really hard to come up with new fun stuff.

 

[brockash]

It’s that time of the year again, time for the stressful elves to return. We have two elves (one boy and one girl) and the three “elf pets” (arctic fox, reindeer and St. Bernard dog), and they always return the morning after Thanksgiving. They always bring something with them on their return day, this year it was a bunch of elf themed games and some candy. It’s so stressful but it’s such a big part of my kids Christmas, and even the older kids love them. Any other elf stressed parents out there?

View attachment 916608

I hate our stupid elf...lol. For my oldest 2 this wasn't even a thing, but my youngest insisted on buying one with her own money a few yrs ago so we got suckered into it. She's 10 now and doesn't believe anymore but insists are keeping this "tradition," so it started last night and now I have an alarm set on my phone every night for this...I really need to tell her this is the last yr. lol

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I hate our stupid elf...lol. For my oldest 2 this wasn't even a thing, but my youngest insisted on buying one with her own money a few yrs ago so we got suckered into it. She's 10 now and doesn't believe anymore but insists are keeping this "tradition," so it started last night and now I have an alarm set on my phone every night for this...I really need to tell her this is the last yr. lol

I have an alarm set on my phone every night for this too lol

 

[texaslover]

My son was too old for it when the trend started but I'm sure I would have done it (and complained about it lol). I love Xmas and all the different traditions. I saw a really cute idea where they glued froot loops to a small pool noodle and made them look like he was pouring them from the box. Here are a few other ideas if anyone is looking!

https://www.iheartnaptime.net/elf-shelf-ideas/

 

[amcnj]

This was not a thing for my children. But I do remember staying up late to draw a picture of the tooth fairy, as a note left with the tooth asked the tooth fairy to leave a picture!

 

[leebee]

Thank god this wasn't a "thing" when DD was little, although if it was, we would not have done it. I have enough balls in the air, I don't need to create more responsibilities and things to be done.

 

[evilmommie]

Our kids are all having their own kids these days, so this trend was not around for our children’s Christmas.

The pics I see on IG with all of the creative Elf scenarios just crack me up!!!!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I never had kids and participated in the "Elf" things, but I know people who did. One of the funniest things I remember hearing was one of our friends trying to explain why the cat was carrying the Elf around.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We are past our elf days. He now sits on a reindeer on the bookshelf in the living room during the month of December. Jingle would always return the day after Thanksgving with a small gift and move around the house until Christmas Eve when he would again bring another gift to say goodbye. He didn't always do funny stuff. I just didn't have it in me to get that creative every day for a month.

Interesting tidbit. the elf is flame retardent. How do I know? I sat him on the chandlelier of my dining room one night. Burned a nice hole in his leg but he didn't catch on fire.......

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I love that others are referring to it as a stupid elf. While ours is named Toby, I always referred to him as the "stupid elf." Even my pics in my digital photo archives are labeled "stupid elf tricks." We were forced into the elf antics later on with our girls. The kids always wanted to know why we didn't have one, since even their teachers had a classroom elf. I made up any number of excuses, but we ended up winning one at a Christmas in July event one year. DD16 was almost 9 and still believed in Santa. So, I had no choice but to participate in stupid elf tricks. That darn elf even came with us on a couple of vacations. He went to WDW in 2017 and Vegas in 2018.

It was so much pressure because I wasn't nearly as creative as their teachers. I was always asked why our elf wasn't as fun and elaborate as the school elves. I told them he must be a dud or a lazy elf since we got him later in on in their childhoods. Even after DD16 learned about Santa, she and DD18 both wanted me to still do it...because it was fun (for them!!!). I flipped it on them after the first year and made it their job. Yeah...the elf didn't do much. He's now retired and nothing more than a decoration...if I can even find him. I never found him last year.

These are some of my finer moments. That one of the elf drinking was Christmas Eve one year. Kids were in bed and he was celebrating with us that Stupid Elf Season was officially over.

 

[leebee]

This is my only elf picture. It was set up in the resource room where I taught for 10 years. I may or may not have been part of this crime! (picture is reversed, it says "Help Me" by the elf!)

 

[mylilnikita]

Y’all are creative. We did the elf thing once , but found him creepy lol plus he’s a snitch if you act up or try to pin bad stuff on you lol

 

[evilmommie]

If you watch Yellowstone you’ll get this.