Less & More: The WFH Mom Edit

Spoiler alert: my answer is mostly just going to be to do whatever you want…

One of the most divisive parts of the holiday seasons year over year? The Elf on the ding dang Shelf.

I always thought I would avoid the tradition and skated through life elf-free until the pandemic flipped our usual Christmas on its head in 2020 and I decided to indulge my kids in some extra magic. A holiday tradition since 2005, I read about how the elf was started by a mother-daughter team who drew from their own family tradition. Love it or hate it, the elf has been all over the place every holiday season since – even spurring parody versions like Snoop on a Stoop and Mensch on a Bench. The company is now worth over $100 million and has sold 28.3 million elves and elf pets in the last nearly two decades. Snoop on a Stoop could never.

Y’all, do I need to add Elf on the Shelf to our list of upcoming brand Deep Dives?? The more I read about it, the more I wanted to read about it. #researchnerd

While some families use the elf as a spy for Santa, reporting back on naughtiness or mischief our elf is just here for fun. He tells Red One when he catches my boys being extra kind and I’ve used “his” notes over the years to drive home how good they are all year round. No shame in my game, literally. I love making little traditions with my kids – like themed movie nights, our annual Christmas light drive, and more – and this little red suited scamp helps making core memories every season. So, fine. Let’s TP the bathroom with toilet paper that says, “Tinkle all the way” at 11pm on a Tuesday.

So should we put more pressure on parents and grownups during the holidays to partake in the elf madness? I say…if you want! Can we all agree to be done with the days of judging other people’s parenting choices either way? If you want to toss the elf on your mantle with a silly note? Go for it! If you want that little nuisance to stay far away from you? Go for it! Or don’t! Just do what works for you and your family and don’t worry about someone else’s candy cane patch, you know?

Our elf, trusty ol’ Christmas Tree, gets up to some real hijinks every December. Honestly, this is probably my oldest’s last year as a true believer so I’ve been trying to make it just a smidge more magical (I’ve also been seasoning my Christmas cocoa with tears of motherhood and how quickly time flies). I made it easy on myself by creating a spreadsheet (of course) back in November with ideas for each day and what accessories I’ll need to put out. This year I created a letter template in Canva and took an hour to write and print each day’s note while my kids were at school. SO it made everything way easier and now I throw stuff out each night and hope to not get caught.

So does little Christmas Tree add some extra work to my day from December 1st through Christmas Eve when we punt him back to the North Pole? Yes, he does. Is it worth it to see my kids laugh and look for him every morning and do the good deeds he tasks them with? Big yes. I’ve never regretted getting one back in 2020 when my kids needed something fun in the midst of a pandemic but I can see the other side of it.

So, what say you, do you elf?

I actually talked to your Elf on the Shelf recently and they said the kids would love it if you subscribed or shared our work. IDK, just what they told me!