The Elf on the Shelf is not one of my favorite things. You can read more about that here from a post a few years ago. My opinion hasn’t changed. This year my daughter begged for a girl elf to go with Luke, her boy elf. She wants them to get married. I’m going to have to break it to her that they’re actually brother and sister and it’s against the law, as there’s no way I’m having an elf wedding. I was adamantly opposed to the girl elf, but my daughter had the money and wanted to buy it.  Let me just say, you can’t purchase an elf on it’s own. Even though we already have an elf and a book, we were forced to buy the girl elf, also with the book.

When we got home, I was shocked that the girl elf didn’t even come with a skirt.  Now we have another book we don’t need, and no skirt. The only way to tell them apart is a pair of earrings and red lips. On the girl. How lame that now my daughter has to work the whole month of December just to make enough chore money to buy a skirt for her girl elf. It’s such a racket!

To make matters worse, the first night the girl elf arrived, my daughter also lost a tooth. Now I was responsible for two elves and a tooth? Help me.

My daughter spent an hour writing out a bunch of names she wanted for the elf and she asked the elf to circle the one she liked best. She chose Phobe. Yes, that is the correct spelling.  If you are 8. I was pushing for Laura {get it 1980’s General Hospital fans – Luke and Laura} but my daughter wasn’t having it.

We’re pretty lazy around here when it comes to the elf, so I came up with some Elf on the Shelf ideas if you’re lazy, too. These are so simple, anyone can do them!

1.  Got a bench, or chair?  The elf can just hang out and watch.  And if you have two, never separate them.  They must always travel together, right?

2.  You have a deer/antelope/elk head around somewhere right?  Everyone does nowadays.  Elves just love to hang out with wild animals.

3.  Who doesn’t have a bowl of balls around the holidays?  Keep your mind out of the gutter…

4.  If you hang your stockings with care prior to Christmas Eve, they keep elves warm, cozy and contained.

5.  Your elf doesn’t need to deface your tree, he can just sit still in it…

6.  And finally, there’s the ever popular hanging from a chandelier.

If you ever forget to actually move the elf, there was a huge blizzard at the North Pole and it wasn’t safe for your elf to return there that night.  There have been lots of blizzards at the North Pole in our house over the years.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!  I like to keep it simple, but if you’re a mom who has a lot of creativity, I tip my hat off to you!

What are your thoughts on Elf on the Shelf?