My husband is an Elvis fan.
Recently, he mentioned hearing about the Elf on a Shelf craze and thought it might be fun to do Elfis on a Shelf in his office.
I believe my response was more than he bargained for:
“Well . . . first . . . your daughter has been dying for an Elf on the Shelf, so I think you should do one at home if you’re going to do one at work.
And furthermore, do you realize what kind of a commitment it is? Every single night for the entire month you have to move it. And kids talk at school about what their elves did the night before, so there are some pretty big expectations for creativity there.”
He said (sheepishly), “Oh. OK.”
So we have had a sometimes-moved, sometimes-not Elfis not on the shelf at home this year. No book to read or real rules, and half of the time, one of the kids moves it if it gets moved at all.
Fun, but no pressure.
I know what we can (and can’t) handle.
Do Normal People use the word furthermore? Because it’s one of my very favorite words.
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For the Amazon affiliate link of the day, I give you . . . the banana slicer
And after you have some major laughs and sit in awe of the creativity of random people on the internet, maybe you’ll remember you wanted to buy a new 70 ba-jillion inch flat screen TV, and I’ll get the affiliate commission for that (or for anything you happen to purchase on Amazon after following my banana slicer link).
--Nony
I rarely comment, but just had to say that I love the word “furthermore” and use it all the time.
Agreed! Here’s to the well-read among us. 🙂
Our elf is lazy. He sometimes moves and sometimes doesn’t. We aren’t the most athletic people ourselves, so we understand our elf. 🙂
Hahaha!!
Cracking up reading the banana slicer comments – thanks for sharing!
Furthermore, I had the exact same thoughts when my husband mentioned our younger son might like the elf. No way I could remember to move that thing every night for a month.
Oh my word! I could waste ALL day reading those reviews. Is this some kind of intellectual subculture! Way too funny.
I use the word furthermore. But I am not normal.
Also, I cannot handle the pressure of an elf. I have made it known publicly that anyone that buys my children an elf will pay. Dearly.
Hahaha!!!
Last year, we decided that it would be oh-so-fun to do Elf on the Shelf for the boys. (I must admit that there was a lot of parent-peer pressure to participate.) We got in on it a little late, and really had to do a full-scale search for an elf. I went to so many stores, and then we had to settle on the stuffed elf with no story book because there were no regular elves left. (I wish we would’ve thought of Elvis, we could have used our “TKB – King of Rock & Roll” figurine ornament. But I digress.)
After all of the hullabaloo, we sat down to tell the boys about this elf who was going to magically visit, and how he we might get to see his antics, et cetera.
This talk did NOT go as planned.
7-year-old gets these huge tears in his eyes and commences to absolutely freak out at the thought of an elf walking around the house in the night while he slept. He told us that if the elf was in the house, he wouldn’t be able to sleep until Santa came – and then Santa would see him not sleeping and not bring him presents. He was so frightened that even the truth that it was all just pretend wasn’t enough – we had to take the elf to grandmas and leave it there before this dear, tender child would calm down.
Furthermore, (see what I did there?) he doesn’t even like to talk about it now. I see other parents racking their brains to out-elf each other now, and can’t help but think this boy really gave me the best gift – not having to commit to moving the elf around every night!
Children can be so wise.
Angela, I understand my oldest daughter probably would have had the same reaction, she does not handle things like that well and in her wise young ways saves me from so many things (like having to go to a movie opening at midnight or remembering to move a toy around the house:).
Ummmm, I have youngish children, and I have no idea what elf on the shelf is. I think I might have heard about it once last year because there is some little bell in the back of my brain saying “you were going to figure it out last year” . Ok so I am clueless. BUT on the positive side, my kids have never metioned anything and I do not have any mom pressure. furthermore koodos to all of you, I agree I could never have remembered to move a little thing around EVERY single night for a month, just wouldnt have happened. I would probably leave it up to the kids and dogs, if any of us remembered and could find it after we hide it yesterday.
There is nothing wrong with furthermore, even if you have to change a few sentences around to use it:)
Wow. I’m glad that wasn’t the “thing to do” when my kids were little! too much pressure! Although we did have a tooth fairy meltdown one time because the tooth fell out while I was at the store, they were in bed when I got home, and Daddy forgot to tell Mommy. I saved the day by saying since the tooth fell out after he went to bed and he had to get up to tell Daddy, the tooth fairy was already on his rounds and didn’t know till he got back home, I’m sure he’ll come tonight. Happy 6 year old.
I told my daughter that there were no more elves available to come to our house (they were all assigned to other homes) so Santa gave us his cell phone number and I can call him directly. I haven’t had to do it yet, but I totally picture myself ominously whipping out my phone while asking her if she’s being a good listener.
Your kids must be the envy of everyone at school! How cool is it to have an Elfis ‘NOT’ on the Shelf?
FYI, there’s no elf on the shelf in our house either. Merry Christmas!
I, too, cannot promise to move the elf around our house, so we don’t have one. Our daughter is clueless about it anyway, so no biggie.
As for hilarious amazon reviews, look up the large bag of Haribo sugar free gummy bears. The things those bears do to your stomach rival ex-lax, but some of the reviews are hilarious. Dana, I’m sure your adolescent boys would love to read them, but of course some of them do not have age-appropriate language. I normally do not appreciate bathroom humor, but the creativity put into some of them is side-splitting.
Do they make tiny hazmat suits for this Elf thing? Because just once I’d like to see one in the dang litter box. (and now I want to throw up by suggesting that one) I don’t have kids so I live vicariously through all the blogs that document this. I was at Target last night and one lady was asking her friend- what the heck this “Elf on the shelf” thing was all about. I wanted to maniacally laugh out loud. meh…
Well…..I am right there with you! My daughter has wanted an elf on the shelf for a few years now. I even get the other parental peer pressure from friends and relatives ” oh come on get her one it’s so much fun”. I know better on that! My daughter even put it on her Santa wish list this year, pretty sure she has given up on me getting it. I actually went as far as putting in my shopping basket last week at Target but quickly put it back on the shelf. I’m sorry elf on the shelf fanatics it’s just too much pressure and too much work I have enough extra stuff to do in December I just can’t commit! 🙂
My daughter wanted one so much that she bought one with her own money!! (She was 10/11). We changed all the rules for our elf, Dancer. Dancer was to help us focus on Jesus coming at Christmas, and did so in a variety of ways – favourite Christmas Carols (both on the stereo and sat at the piano with music), Bible stories, suggestions of things she could do to help people, prayers, writing to the children we sponsor etc. I did have to write a letter every day, but Dancer did have a Sabbath, so that gave me one day off a week. (The next year, I used some time on my commute to plan it out in advance. It only lasted 2 years.) I thought it was more fun to let her take Dancer with her places if she wanted to, so we didn’t have the no touch rule. And because she never really believed it anyway, it was a lot of fun!
Now, the tooth fairy… let’s just say that I was organised enough in advance to tell my kids that the tooth fairy gets very busy, and sometimes is unable to come the first night. And that was when my oldest child lost his very first tooth! 🫣
Our elf on the shelf is named Elfis! He is sporadic about moving. Lately DD has been trying to catch him moving with her camera recording him. So he started moving when the kids are at school. Sneaky little fellow. Lol
I don’t know that it tells you anything about the normal aspect, but I use “furthermore.” I am also a fan of “albeit” and “counterintuitive.”
I heartily endorse the use of “furthermore,” “nonetheless,” and even “hither.”
“Come hither child” is often said in my house, and each of the kids understands the meaning.
Can I just tell you how much I love you and your blog!?! I think we have the same personality. I’ve started telling my husband that there are just certain things that I simply can’t handle, like keeping all. the. tissue. paper. Ha!
We have an elf, and I am so proud of myself this year! I’ve moved it several times! Nothing super creative. Hehe. But, at least his location changes. I’m patting myself in the back. I also cleaned my bathroom yesterday. Victory.
Thank you for the best laugh I have had in ages re Banana slicer 571b lol
Isn’t it hysterical??