Traditions and Trivia: Shelf Elves

A recent phenomenon has been hitting social media and the shelves, literally.

The Elf on the Shelf® is a brand new Christmas tradition beginning in 2005, and involves a picture book and little elf doll.

The idea is that the elf is watching the family during the day, and at night, flies back to the North Pole to give Santa a situation report.

Parents read the book to children and place the elf onto a shelf, or bookcase or any other furniture for the day to ‘watch.’

During this time the children must abide by two rules, which according to elfontheshelf.com, “First, an elf cannot be touched; Christmas magic is very fragile and if an elf is touched it may lose that magic and be unable to fly back to the North Pole. Second, an elf cannot speak or move while anyone in the house is awake! An elf's job is to watch and listen.”

This can be a tool for parents to keep the magic in Christmas, or to encourage good behavior with the threat of coal looming overhead.

Many photos of the adopted elf make its way onto Facebook and other social media sites, and some creative parents even create a sort of comic strip adventure of The Elf on the Shelf® watching the children from amusing locations.