To elf or not to elf? That seems to be the buzzing question among toddler moms. Our oldest daughter met her elf last year. She named her Elfredo. I am pretty sure this name came from her favorite pasta dish, but none the less its adorable. We introduced our elf to the home when she was a little over three years old. It’s the perfect time to understand the meaning behind the elf watching her behaviors and reporting back to Santa. She is also old enough to understand that the elf cannot be touched or it will lose its magic. It is amazing to see how well your child will be behave when they know their special elf is watching. 

I personally love the excitement of watching my daughters run through the house every morning during the Christmas season searching to see where Elfredo is hiding. The excitement and smiles this brings to their faces warms my heart. There is of course two sides to every story. The beautiful story of the elf on the shelf is a wonderful fairy tale of a magical elf that flies to the North Pole to see Santa every night to tell him about your day and good deeds and comes back every morning to hide in a new spot for you to find them. The truth is the mom and dads are the ones doing the hiding. In the beginning we are gung ho and ready. We have the arrival note and gift ready. The first week we have the very best hiding spots, but then we get lazy, forgetful, run out of ideas. This is when the elfing can get a little tricky. We have found ourselves on more than one occasion running around the house at the crack of dawn because we forgot to move the elf. 

As the days till Christmas Eve are counting down to single digits and our daughter is talking about how sad she is to say goodbye to Elfredo I realize how important this tradition is to her. Traditions come in all forms. Christmas has so many special meanings in our family. We truly celebrate every aspect of the Holiday in our home and of course the true meaning of Christmas. The elf is her tradition. She arrives the day we put our tree up, usually Thanksgiving weekend, and leaves on Christmas Eve in Santa’s sleigh. So I say this to parents questioning if the elf will have a place in their home next holiday season…. the joy that it brings to our little girl’s faces far surpasses the extra work it takes to come up with new ideas every night.