Forgoing the elf - is this realistic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is almost 7, we never did it and it hasn't seemed to be an issue. "Every house is different" works fine. This Elf on the Shelf stuff is just marketing and I'm nit interested.

This. We aren't Christian and don't do Christmas at all, so we are used to saying a version of the above. Even for our own holidays we don't do everything some people do, and we do more than some of our kids' friends do. So, again, same version of "every family does it differently" is fine.

Rinse and repeat for all holidays, vacations, and other activities that don't fit our values or interests. And I am sure we are not alone in that.

Kids are 8 and 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never did the Elf. Never got asked about it. I thought it was a weird suburban thing. Do people do that in DC?

Not that I’ve seen or heard of. I thought it was a semi rural thing for entertainment because there is generally less to do and more kids to enjoy the ‘magic’.

[Anonymous]

The origin story of the tradition: https://thestoryexchange.org/women-behind-elf-on-a-shelf

“The sisters told Bloomberg they hope to become a billion-dollar enterprise, with an elf in every family’s home. “If we stay true to that, the Elf on the Shelf should be every bit a part of Christmas as Santa Claus,” Bell says.”

[Anonymous]

What is the big deal about moving an elf at night to a different place

[Anonymous]

Never. When my youngest got to K, he did ask about it. I said “oh they’re just pretend, something fun to do in the mornings in December, but you have an advent calendar instead”. He never brought it up again, didn’t seem to care.

[Anonymous]

I mean I have heard of the Elf, but did not realize it was a big thing. Somehow my kids made it to their late teens without all the OTT Xmas stuff.

[Anonymous]

We never did it and my sons never brought it up. Seems like a stupid made up thing people do to post on FB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not do the ELF. Kids are fine. We did advent calendars, stockings, made gingerbread houses, prepped for Santa/reindeer.

The Elf is not mandatory. But be careful to not be “we focus on the religious part” sanctimony.

Who cares if she focuses on the religious aspect of the holiday? Who are you to tell her what to focus on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not do the ELF. Kids are fine. We did advent calendars, stockings, made gingerbread houses, prepped for Santa/reindeer.

The Elf is not mandatory. But be careful to not be “we focus on the religious part” sanctimony.

Who cares if she focuses on the religious aspect of the holiday? Who are you to tell her what to focus on?

We care

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not do the ELF. Kids are fine. We did advent calendars, stockings, made gingerbread houses, prepped for Santa/reindeer.

The Elf is not mandatory. But be careful to not be “we focus on the religious part” sanctimony.

Who cares if she focuses on the religious aspect of the holiday? Who are you to tell her what to focus on?

We care

Well that just makes you pathetic. Focus on your own life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not do the ELF. Kids are fine. We did advent calendars, stockings, made gingerbread houses, prepped for Santa/reindeer.

The Elf is not mandatory. But be careful to not be “we focus on the religious part” sanctimony.

Who cares if she focuses on the religious aspect of the holiday? Who are you to tell her what to focus on?

We care

Why though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never did it and my sons never brought it up. Seems like a stupid made up thing people do to post on FB.

+1. One more things for moms to do.

[Anonymous]

We have never done that. It is a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal about moving an elf at night to a different place

I find the whole idea weird and creepy. The elf is watching you and reporting to Santa?? And the elf gets sick if the kids are “bad”?? I don’t want my kid to be motivated to behave because of an elf reporting back to Santa. I honestly feel the elf is something bad parents use to make their kids behave.

We do lots of fun Christmas stuff at our house not not the elf and I’ve never been asked about it!

[Anonymous]

PP who does Elf on the Shelf - didn't like the creepy reporting thing - which is how I first tried to get out of it. So our Elf came with a note saying she doesn't report back to Santa, cause that's creepy, and mom and dad didn't like that.

Impressed with all of you who avoided it!