Who or What is the Elf on a Shelf?

Last year someone posted a youtube on something about Elf on a Shelf.

I had never heard of the Elf on a Shelf though I thought it was a cute idea.

Seems like some folks don't like the idea so I thought I would find out why?

The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition is a 2005 American picture book for children, written by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, and illustrated by Coë Steinwart. The book tells a Christmas-themed story, written in rhyme, that explains how Santa Claus knows who is naughty and nice. It describes elves visiting children from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, after which they return to the North Pole until the next holiday season.

The elf on the shelf is also Santa's - known as St. Nick's - best friend. This story describes how Santa's "scout elves" hide in people's homes to watch over events. Once everyone goes to bed, the scout elf flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa the activities, good and bad, that have taken place throughout the day. Before the family wakes up each morning, the scout elf flies back from the North Pole and hides. By hiding in a new spot each morning around the house, the scout elf plays an ongoing game of hide and seek with the family. The Elf on the Shelf explains that scout elves get their magic by being named and being loved by a child.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elf_on_the_Shelf





https://elfontheshelf.com/blog/easy-effortless-elf-ideas/

It still sounds like a cute idea to have fun with the kids during the holidays

Has anyone made an Elf on a Shelf doll?  It looks fairly simple if a doll face could be bought at a craft shop.

People who are not highly online may not be aware that the Elf On A Shelf book and doll and related family of products has inspired a meme complex in which the creepy "espionage" notion is foremost.  "Elf" is reimagined as a stalker-ish figure of malevolent mischief and/or violence.   I know it's a beloved story and character to a generation of little kids and their parents, but teens and young adults who are "aware of all internet traditions" may react very differently to "Elf" references:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/elf-on-the-shelf

Example:

Hi, Dan

Yes, I have seen some of those creepy memes on Pinterest.

To me, those are the "Naughty" ones and I like the "Nice" ones.

Like the book's theme, Santa's naughty and nice list.

I feel all kinds of things get a bad rap on the internet, sort of like the bad rap that "Dungeon and Dragons" got a few years ago or way back when.  I would not let my kids play that kind or too many video games for a fact.

If truth be known both may have a lot to do with some people being against commercialism or even holidays.

I figured you did know about the dark side of the Elf, because you mentioned researching it. But I know a lot of people here on Permies have sort of stepped back from a highly-online life and might not have any notion that the Elf has a second (and very prominent) internet incarnation as a violent creepy stalker.  Sometimes the same symbol has different cultural meanings to different people.  You mentioned Dungeons and Dragons, which predates the internet by a couple of decades.  In my youth it was known in my circles (I was a bookish scifi fan) as a game of imaginative fun, but my fundamentalist Christian friends were banned from playing it because their pastor got a mimeographed newsletter warning about demons and so he preached against it from the pulpit without ever so much as seeing the game materials.  Somehow everybody in that church became concerned that instead of a fantasy game, it was a recruitment tool for a non-existent demon-worshipping cult.

I came away from that experience (and others subsequent) with a deep conviction that picking and choosing from the cultural offerings available to us is a good thing, but that people too often just don't even know  the cultural significances of the stuff on offer.   I think the Elf is fine, but I wouldn't want someone who has kids of mixed age to offer up Elf material unironically only to have their older kids dissolve into hilarious and mysterious mockery and start posing the elf doll salaciously with Barbie.  If they know and understand why that's happening, they can respond appropriately ("Hey, cut it out, don't ruin Christmas for the littles") but as always, knowledge is power.

The best "creepy" version of elf on the shelf I've seen is the elf stuffed head 1st into baby Yoda's mouth legs dangling out like when he ate the frog. This is the way!

For some unknown reason, I don't really like the creepy stuff except at Halloween.

Is the stuff in the book creepy?

From what I understand it is about being naughty or nice.


source