I am sure many of your are very familiar with the "Elf On The Shelf" Tradition. Yes, it's a bit annoying at times but let me assure you that the kids truly enjoy having them. We adopted our little scout elf, "Snowflake" approximately three Christmases ago.
Personally, I had never heard of the Elf on the Shelf before until my son, who was seven years old then, came home telling me all about it. Since it's never too late to start new traditions, we decided to do it.
Yes, like most parents we have forgotten to move the elf a few times and we had to blame it on Daddy. I know, such a bad wife. But in my defense, in some occasions, my darling husband places the elf where I CANNOT reach her!!
Yesterday, we had a very unfortunate incident. Well, our little Snowflake did. My son had invited some friends over to play and one of them TOUCHED our elf to prove to our kids that Santa and the elves ARE NOT REAL!!!
I can't deny that I was furious and seeing my daughter in tears broke my heart into a million pieces!!
While we understand that every family believe in different things. We truly wish some parents would take the time to explain to their children that it's never okay to destroy someone else's dream just because they don't believe in Santa, or like in our situation, the Elf on the Shelf.
If this ever happens to you, here are a few tips for you to follow to make the situation better for your little ones. You can use the very same tips even if your little one touches the Elf by mistake, after all, these are children.
First, you have to visit Elf On The Shelf. You will find several activities for the kids as well as ideas for the parents.
If the Elf is touched by mistake simply do the following:
1. Have the kids write a letter to Santa explaining what happened;
2. Write a letter back to the kids (this is optional);
3. Sprinkle cinnamon around where the elf is;
4. Have the kids blow a kiss; and
5. sing a Christmas carol
Our kids sprinkled the cinnamon on top of her little blanket, but that was my mistake, my written instructions were not as clear (obviously)... hahaaa
Let your little scout elf rest for 24 hours and she will be back to her normal self!
Below are the original instructions from the Elf on the Shelf website, we just changed it a bit because of our situation and we needed to address the fact that our son's friend doesn't believe in magic.
"Christmas magic is very fragile, and if scout elves are touched they may lose their magic. If your scout elf has been touched, you can apologize by writing a letter to Santa, or saying you’re sorry to your elf. Then, please sprinkle a little cinnamon beside him or her before you go to bed; cinnamon is like vitamins for scout elves, and it helps them get back to the North Pole. Once they arrive, the North Pole doctors will check them out."
My husband and I put a letter together answering our children's questions and requests. When our son wrote the letter to Santa, he apologized but he asked Santa for a favor:
"Please forgive my friend, ...... for touching our special elf and I ask that you can make him believe in you"...
While our daughter wrote: "I hope you are not mad at us, I still believe in you"....
Therefore, we had to write something back, but writing a response letter from Santa it's totally optional.
I am glad that this little incident didn't kill the joy or the magic in our house. Our son will soon find out the truth but we would like to be the ones to tell him.
