nonstick weblog

We got an Elf on the Shelf a couple of weeks ago. It’s this family tradition that is now mass produced in the form of box set containing the elf and a book. Essentially, the elf is Santa’s eyes and ears when it comes to whether kids belong on the naughty or nice list. The elf magics himself to the North Pole each night to report on the children’s behavior. When he returns, he finds a new perch. (Although, the location gets less and less inspired as the days pass.)

Mui loved the idea. She named the elf Jolly and wakes early each morning to elf-hunt. She tells Jolly what she wants for Christmas. She also whispers to him the rationale behind some seemingly bad behavior (i.e. Daddy was being mean.)

One day, SO was shifting the DVD player and knocked over Jolly. SO quickly picked up Jolly, but too late. Mui already noticed. She FLIPPED OUT. She accused SO of doing it on purpose. She cried that Jolly lost his magic. You see, the rule is no touching to elf or he loses his magic. Otherwise, kids would be tossing the elf out the door whenever they did something bad. It took a while, but we convinced Mui Jolly was fine and that we would know for sure when he is in a new spot in the morning. And he was in a new spot the next morning.

As soon as she gets to school each morning, Mui reports to her teachers on Jolly’s new hiding spot. She believes. In fact, when they were writing letters to Santa, Mui announced she didn’t need to do that because Jolly will tell Santa what she wants.

I must admit that SO and I have been abusing Jolly’s power. “Mui, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Jolly is going to tell Santa.” She looks at us incredulously then rethinks her action. We may have to come up with something that will work year-round. Something we can mass-produce and sell as a boxed gift set to make oodles of money and pay for all of Mui’s Christmas presents.