I've never believed in Santa Claus.
Ever.
It's not that I didn't want to believe in him. It's just that no one ever explained the concept to me. Or maybe they did, but I just didn't buy into it. I don't remember my parents ever mentioning him to me, though. In fact, we never had conversations about it - except that it was Jesus' birthday and that baby Jesus got gifts. My earliest Christmas memories was me being awakened by my dad and lead into the living room where a bunch of presents were waiting for me. It wasn't my birthday - but who was I to complain!
So I figured: Christmas presents + being lead by my dad to the Christmas tree = Dad bought the gifts.
I was a smart little girl.
On the flip side of this, my younger sister grew up believing in Santa (how odd is that?!). She believed for the longest time - until her 12th birthday, if not longer. She believed after my parents divorce when the "Santa" of the household disappeared from our lives. She believed when Santa would leave notes thanking her for the cookies she left - even when those notes looked just like my mom's really bad handwriting. It's amazing, the faith of little children.
To this day, my now 20-something-year-old sister claims that one Christmas she actually saw Santa peak into our bedroom before he left.
With all this in mind, there's a new myth to add to the holiday mix - something called Elf on a Shelf. I had a friend mention this on her Facebook recently and I had no idea what she was talking about but it seemed to have her little girl giddy with Christmas cheer.
So this morning, as I was out running errands and the like, this Elf on a Shelf resurfaced as a topic on a morning radio show. The hosts were talking about how creepy the concept is. Apparently, Elf on a Shelf "magically" appears in the home Dec. 1. The Elf (parents can name it whatever they want) serves as "Santa's helper," keeping an eye on your kids until Christmas, reporting any kind of mischief back to Santa for the naughty and nice list. The Elf is to appear in a different area of the house each morning - sitting and watching your every move.
It was funny to hear parents call in to the radio show about this thing. One mom called, saying that when her husband told their 3-year-old twins about the Elf - how they should expect him to magically appear in a different room of the house each morning - they stared back at him with strange looks. So he decided to tweak the Elf rule to just "the downstairs."
Other parents, not wanting to unnerve their kids with the story of some random Elf (stranger/danger!) showing up at the house - magically popping into room to room like some elfish stalker- told their kids that since the Elf was a hard little worker at Santa's workshop all year, he gets the "privilege" of coming to stay with a family for the Christmas season . . . while all the while watching your every move.
All I have to say is at least Elf on a Shelf is not a Clown on a Shelf. Or Chucky on a Shelf. Both would be totally creeeeepppppyyyy - in a "hide yo kids, hide yo wife and your husband" kind of way.
I think when I have kids, I'll just stick to telling them about good ol' non-stalkerish St. Nick - the jolly old dude with the beard who breaks into people's houses in the middle of the night to eat cookies and leave bunches of gifts.
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