Elf on the Shelf

Among the aspects of popular culture that we missed out on while we were abroad was the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition. For those of you who are in the dark like I was, the basic concept is that this elf hangs around your house and reports back to Santa on what behavior he observed in the house. To keep the elf top-of-mind for the kids, each morning the elf is found somewhere different in the house.

I have come to learn that this tradition is about as polarized as the ABC show, The Bachelor or Mitt Romney's candidacy. People either love it or hate it. Shelley was initially apprehensive about the idea since she has a phobia against Umpa Lumpas (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie), dwarfs, and clowns. However, she found an elf that was not creepy looking.

Andrew and Colin have really taken to the Christopher - this is the elf's name. Each morning they search the house looking for him. The picture above has some places where they have found him. More importantly, ever since Christopher arrived, Colin has been on his best behavior. We don't want to jinx it, but Colin has gone four days without a time out. This is huge. For the last several months, he has had more than four time outs a day.