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There seems to be a lot of debate and negativity surrounding the Elf on the Shelf. Honestly, I am shocked by all the negativity and controversy. This is a season of joy, giving, and rejoicing.
People everyone celebrate the season differently with different beliefs and traditions. Some celebrate Christmas others celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, a combination, or nothing at all.
We celebrate Christmas and include many different traditions in our celebrations both religious and secular. We do Santa. Our kids participate in the annual Christmas program at our church. We teach our kids to give back by participating in programs our church is sponsoring.
Even with the celebration of Christmas, traditions are widespread and different from family to family.
• Some buy live Christmas trees, others use artificial.
• Some spend hours baking cookies and other Christmas treats, while others make a mad dash to the store when they need them for a party.
• Some kids get loads of gifts from Santa, some kids get the big gift from Santa, and others get no gifts from Santa.
• Some buy loads of gifts for family and friends, others make their gifts, and others do not exchange gifts.
• Some take a very religious approach to Christmas while others take a more secular approach, or a combination of the two.
• Some have an elf and others don’t. There is a huge difference among people, who do the elf. Some move it around, others have the elf do fun stuff, and others have an elf doing mischievous stuff.
We do the Elf on the Shelf at our house. I am not going to lie, I have grumbled about doing the elf and all the hype around the elf. My kids love the elf! I love seeing their excited faces and hearing them recounting their tales of the elf. As soon as Thanksgiving is over, our kids anxiously await the arrival of our elf.
Yes, I acknowledge that it is hard not to do it when everyone around you may be doing the elf. Last year we arrived back home from Thanksgiving late Sunday like we normally do. My son went to school the next morning and his teacher had an elf. He was anxious about it all week, until our elf finally arrived the next weekend after we got the Christmas tree.
The elf is really not much different than the many others differences among families at Christmas.
Embrace the differences and focus on what really matters to you this holiday season.
