Elf on the Shelf

We have an Elf on the Shelf; his name is Fizzle. Last year was our first year for the little guy to come visit (thanks to my wonderful Texas family).

He moves around the house every night most nights. Thankfully the girls don't fuss about those times when he fails to change locations. And most mornings he does find himself in a new position it's because of mine and my husband's swift moves. You see, he often "magically" moves somewhere in between the first girl waking up (usually Piper) and actually coming-to enough to think about the little guy. Typically, one of us realizes too late that he is in the same spot leading us to team up with a quick distract-and-avoid maneuver with the girl(s) while the other frantically tries to find a new spot, one also out of reach of small hands, in our small house. Those places are quickly becoming scarce.

They do get a kick out of seeing where he is each morning. Even Barrett occasionally throws up a finger and points at the sight. It's fun.

However, our elf does not get into mischief. It's seems to be the big thing right now. Well, the big thing outside of simply having an elf. Pinterest is flooded with ideas. Facebook posts are abundant. If I wasn't careful, thoughts/feelings of being inadequate in the crafty-creative-mom category would start creeping in and taking over.

I mean, come on! What fun things to do with your elf! I've seen pictures of so many cute ideas! And I *know* my kids would absolutely have a blast with such impish behavior.

But...isn't the purpose of the elf to help instill good behavior in your kids? Isn't the whole reason he's in a new spot each morning is because he flew away to report to Santa in the north pole about the behaviors seen each day?

So doesn't it seem a little contradictory to have an elf, whose job is to watch for naughty/nice behavior, continuously perform naughty acts?? "Hey, kids, you be good or I'll report you to Santa...but I can do whatever I want and you can laugh about it and have a good time."

Hmmmm. I don't know. It just doesn't seem right to me.

I'm not knocking those who do have an elf who makes naughty choices each night. Maybe if I had time and energy, I'd do something fun with it, too. Maybe.

But I kind of think I'd still have some issues with the contradiction in it all.

Of course I am playing in to the whole "Santa is real" mindset simply by having an elf, so perhaps I'm already contradicting myself.

*Cue the you're-getting-too-deep-for-this-late-at-night alert*

Goodnight all! I've got an elf to move before he finds himself in the same spot two three days in a row.

And, please, keep posting pictures of your elf's mischievous deeds because I really do find myself impressed with all the creativity you put into it.