The Elf On The Shelf has definitely taken over the shelves these past holidays! … And our houses {and hearts} as well! But keeping it as magical an experience as possible for our little believers has become quite a daunting task. Atleast for me it has!

Taking trips to retail stores that sell this popular doll with our little believer has become somewhat of a game for us. We were having to pull out all the stops …

Don’t look this way!
Don’t turn that way!
What’s that over there?!

It was getting old real quick! So I decided to embrace it.

Kaindan would see The Elf On The Shelf in it’s box, and quickly call to my attention. “Mom, mom! Look, it looks like Elvie!” ← that’s our elf’s name, by the way! 🙂

When that does happen, I just reply with something along of the lines of “Oh, he must not be magic. Elvie’s only magic because Santa sends him.” And I try to emphasize that! … That Elvie is given his powers from Santa! And only Santa!

And guess what?! It works! And it feels SO much better being able to walk the aisles and not have to worry if that Elf will be at the next corner. Now, I don’t even flinch when we come across one!

I have embraced it so much, that I even had Elvie looking at outfits for himself on Target.com for his “Wish List”.

If you can’t beat them, then join them! Right?! HA!

Next time, I would definitely switch the color pencil for an actual pen or marker. A crayon would probably work better than the color pencil did as well!

But I digress!! Back on track …

This is the third year Elvie has graced us with his presence during the holidays; and it has been so much fun! We have, however, come across a few other hurdles that needed jumping.

One of those hurdles is other people who are not familiar with the Elf, and talking about it nonchalantly around our little believers.

Example:
{Grown Up}: “Oh, I’ve seen these Elves. You buy them and move them around for the kids.”
{Believer}: SILENCE. STARING BACK AND FORTH AT ADULTS.
{Me}: “Noooo!!! Santa sends his Elves to children’s houses to help keep an eye on them. They move on their own with their magic!” LOOK BACK AT {Grown Up} IN HOPES THEY UNDERSTAND THE CRAZY EYES I AM MAKING!!

That has happened a few times, and is something that will continue to happen. You just have to be prepared for those – because not everyone knows all the work us parents put into making these Elves as magical as they are. And I am not going to sugar-coat it … there will be moments when some people just  don’t catch your drift and continue with all kinds of “bean-spilling” about The Elf On The Shelf. And all you can do is persistently push your story to make sure your little believer isn’t affected.

Another {very high!} hurdle we had to jump was when our dog, Skeeter, decided to use Elvie as a chew toy. That was real fun!! The kind of fun you have when the latest Hallmark premiere is on and your child insists you keep reading bedtime stories!! Through the commercial and into the movie!! And you have no recording options!! AHH!! The agony!!

We found Elvie at 4 o’clock in the morning, with his head in chewed-up pieces! Pieces! So, I resisted panic … and snapped a few photos – as any parent would do! And then I panicked. I made do with what I had for that morning. Then Michael and I spent the rest of that day looking for another Elvie. That task actually turned out to be harder than we had anticipated. Last year, they came out with a new edition of The Elf On The Shelf. And it didn’t look quite the same. And not only that, we had to make sure and get a dark-complected Elf just like Elvie was. We ran {not literally!} all over the place until we found the exact one.

You can’t even tell in this picture that Elvie has no head!! Whew!! What a relief!

So we only had to hide a missing head for one day. And I now have an extra Elf somewhere in storage {hidden away!} because I tried to be slick and ordered one online for “store pick-up” at Bed Bath & Beyond. Only, it was the newer edition. And I never got around to returning it after finally finding the right one.

I almost had to bring in a new Elf and had already thought up how Santa was going to introduce him. There would have been a letter from Santa stating that “Elvie was called upon for some really important North Pole duties and would not be able to come back”.

That’s a great transition in the case that you have to switch Elves for one reason or another!! Feel free to use it if you ever need to!

Despite all the hurdles, we are having so much fun with our Elf this year! And every year that passes, we get a little more creative.

Need a creative boost?! Check out a few of our Elf’s doings this year …

And some from last year {and the year before that} …

Comment for {the few} tips and tricks I have come across throughout my journey!! 🙂

What has your Elf been up to these days?!
Share photos with us!!
We want more ideas!!

#ElfRGV