We should make it law that Elves on the Shelves are sold with a warning label on the box.
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The warning label should read something along the lines of:
"WARNING: This concept will wear very thin after a couple of years and you will live to regret it. Supplementary warning: You will run out of good ideas for your elf roughly after one week."
For those families who may be looking to adopt a little elf into their life, I don't want to be too much of a Derek Downer because our family has had a lot of fun with our mischief-making Oliver the Elf over the years.
During that time, Oliver has got into all sorts of trouble and has even got himself an elf girlfriend named Olivia. All that is well and good, but you just need to understand it has an expiry point.
For the first little while the concept will be exciting and the joy of creativity will overtake you as your elf thrills the household with their exciting adventures. But it gets older than stale ginger bread after a while.
During a recent house move my wife and I wondered whether our elves would "find" us again, but alas Oliver and Olivia managed to squeeze their way into a box somehow and appeared for more hijinks this week. 2020 just keeps getting better ...
For our teenager, the concept of the Elf on a Shelf has certainly lost its sparkle. It has been lost in a sea of friends, phones and whatever the hell Ariana Grande is doing next.
However, our youngest daughter is still well and truly locked in. So that means, as a family, we are still on board with our Elf on a Shelf.
We did regret hearing about the idea of putting your elf in quarantine a day after we released ours into the household. Damn, such a good idea. We posted a picture of what that might look like and a lot of people enjoyed the concept. A lot.
It was also nice a lot of people drew to our attention NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard had given Santa and the elves an exemption from quarantining. Tell your story walking Minister. Clearly Minister Hazzard's household isn't "blessed" with an elf.
Maybe after this Christmas, Oliver the Elf and his lovely partner Olivia will be put up for adoption. Free to a good home. Or any home really ...
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Julian O'Brien
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury and former editor of The Advocate (North-West Tasmania). Journalism is simply about telling good stories well and we do so now across a broader platform than ever before. Our role as a regional masthead is to not only share the stories our readers care about but to be a passionate torch bearers for community at every opportunity. We are stronger together.
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury and former editor of The Advocate (North-West Tasmania). Journalism is simply about telling good stories well and we do so now across a broader platform than ever before. Our role as a regional masthead is to not only share the stories our readers care about but to be a passionate torch bearers for community at every opportunity. We are stronger together.
