Elf on the Shelf: Naughty or Nice?

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? This is our first year with our very own elf and the kids LOVE it!

Basically the elf watches your children during the day and then flies to the North Pole at night to tell Santa whether the kids have been naughty or nice. Then he comes back to a different location in the house so the kids know he went and talked to Santa. All of this is explained in the book that comes with the elf. It also explains that the kids can't touch the elf or he could loose his magic.

Meet our elf! The kids decided to name him Twinkle.

We have been having a blast with our elf so far, and the kids love to get up in the morning and race to see who can find Twinkle. In the above photo, Twinkle is sitting on the pull cord to our ceiling fan. He definitely doesn't seem to be afraid of heights! Here he is peeking out from the top of our ceiling fan.

The boys have found Twinkle riding on our electric Christmas tree train, snuggled into a stocking and even riding one of the wooden reindeer.

Sometimes Twinkle is lazy and comes back to the same spot as the night before, but he has been pretty good at finding new and fun hiding places (phew!).

Of course lots of my friends (and bloggers) have elves, and I have been reading about some of their exploits. What I don't understand is why people have elves that are naughty? I have read about elves that make messes and play pranks, and I have to say that I don't get it! If the elf is supposed to tell Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice, what kind of example is a naughty elf?

I totally get the idea of making the elf do fun and silly things, but I just don't get having an elf that does things that would get your kids in trouble if they did the same thing. Know what I mean?

I guess I am glad that our elf is sweet, silly and helpful. Once Twinkle put away and organized all the books on the children's bookshelf. We also found him holding the baby Jesus from our nativity one morning.

Twinkle does like to play with the boys' toys, but generally he doesn't make messes or get into "trouble". So what do you think? Is your Elf on the Shelf naughty or nice?



Linked up to Wordful Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, and Wordless Wednesdays all over.