She purchased the above product, for use with her 5-year-old son. There are directions for the parents (place the elf on a shelf, and leave the book around. Then, whichever one the child sees first, you help them find the other, so that you can read the book together.) The book tells the story of the elf, who has been sent by Santa(!) to watch the child, and report back(!!) every night(!!!!) As described by my coworker, "The elf has this creepy little smile, that wasn't evident with the original purchase. Even *I* started to think this guy was reporting on me."
"As I read the book to C. (her son,) his face paled, and his eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. He would take furtive glances over at the elf, wondering if its omnipresent gaze, judgemental and stern, was still there. (It always was. Omnipresent, you know.) I began to wonder if this was too much, too fast - but there was no backing out now. I feared that if the elf simply disappeared, C. would believe that it had gone back to report to the big guy himself that C. was a lost cause. Alternatively, perhaps he would decide a fairy restraining order wouldn't be worth the trouble, and turn into a Santa agnostic years before his peers. What had started out as a cute idea about a new Christmas tradition had morphed into a smirking self-evident superego, looking disapproving at my preschooler. I'm still not sure if he got any sleep last night."
From an Amazon review:
"I work in a store that sells 'Elf on the Shelf'. There is an accompanying video, which has a song: "Elf on the Shelf is watching you, what you say and what you do. Elf on the Shelf is judging you, each and every Christmas."
I love this product, and am repelled at the same time. . The true sense of fear, never knowing when this creepy little plastic stalker is watching - i foresee a day when I would place him on a shelf in the bathroom to frighten Nugget. Or LN. I imagine potty training will go beautifully in that case.
PS - I might have taken a LITTLE literary license with my co-worker's story. Also, alliteration.
PPS - edited to correct silly spelling errors.
