The Elf

Alright - if you've been ANYWHERE near social media the last few Christmas seasons you know of whom I speak.  That elf.  You know the one.  The one that's part of Santa's own division of the CIA.

Allow me to be blunt.  We are a Santa loving household.  Yes, we're fairly traditional Catholics who do Santa.  Our children are still taught about St. Nicholas and when we had to deal with "the transition" for our oldest this year it went EXTREMELY well.  I am grateful to God for His guidance and the fact that we ALWAYS made it a far bigger deal to give than receive by "helping" Santa every year by adopting a family and helping them get through the season, participating in the angel tree, and making Advent a HUGE daily deal instead of just a "once a week thing at Church".  Santa was never alone in his mission and we have made it very clear that Christ is the center of our Advent season.

Enter the Elf.  A small, beady eyed quiet creature who exists as an informant to the "Big Man" himself.  By the time the Elf initially came around my son was far too old to absorb a new tradition and my youngest was still "cooking".  Something about it bothered me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until this morning.

My good friend Birgit of Designs By Birgit and her post regarding Santa and this Elf combined with a sheer lack of sleep and exhaustion from fighting with my kitchen sink made it all finally come clear to me.

Why are we inviting Santa's CIA into our living rooms???  Why are we desensitizing our children to surveillance by having this creature constantly reporting to and from the North Pole our child's various activities?  Short of ninja skills this dude could be KGB!

Get where I'm going here???  I'm a fan of the freedom that I have in this country.  My husband fought hard to help bring some of that freedom to other parts of the world while serving our armed forces.  There is no way on EARTH I am going to bring an informant into my home to babysit my children and give him center stage!

I know some people like the elf but he's given me the creeps for years and now I know why.  I don't want him in my living room.  I don't want my children learning that it's perfectly okay to be spied on by some mysterious entity that's going to report their every moment to someone else.

The elf can live on someone else's shelf because he is definitely NOT welcome here.