The Elves must go, 6yo looking for them at 2 am!

[Therandomtrekker1]

My two sleep soundly , never wake (both since 18 months) but since the Elves have arrived they are waking earlier and earlier.
This week youngest woke at 1.30am with an itchy foot ! Managed to get back to bed quickly and thought I broken night this week with all the early rises since 1 Dec 4-6 am instead of normal 6-7.30 whilst they both look for the Elves I was tired anyway.

Tonight is a new low, woke at 2.15am saw a light on and found the 6yo listening to an audio book while lying on the floor, been all over the house looking for Elves and lights on everywhere. Now upset because I took away her speaker and told couldn’t have nightlight as no one to switch it off later.

The Elves are a pain to do as I always forget until last minute (bought by my mum 2 years ago who didn’t realise what they were, she did apologise later) and while the joy on DC faces is heart lifting, the lack of sleep doesn’t justify them staying?

So
Elves stay it’s only for another week and the magic of Christmas is so fleeting for these little ones. AIBU

or do they get called back to the North Pole early, because little ones need their sleep and this is obviously disturbing them. YANBU

Could you compromise and say that the elves have extra work to do in the run up to Christmas so they will only be coming to visit for a couple of hours before dinner? Might keep the magic but reduce the waking?

I've had earlier than normal mornings due to excitement over advent calendars... but not that early!

My personal compromise with the elves is that I'll do an "naughty elf" type thing... but just once on Christmas morning, which normally involves one of my son's presents being hidden, or hanging somewhere, or tied up, (or this year he has a key tied to his stocking for a chest that is hidden and he will need to find).

He loves it and gets very excited to see what the elves have done.. but it keeps it all to one night, and doesn't give me a month of work.

Can they fall off something and break their leg? Oh dear can’t move now?
we heard you were waking up far too early! I had to run and now I’ve hurt myself? 🤣

I am so torn as they love them so much, the pre dinner thing may work but would require more planning which I don’t have the brain power for, plus I don’t get too much alone time so would be discovered if I went somewhere and the Elves had suddenly done something, 6yo would realise.
I don’t want to break the magic yet.

'The magic of Christmas' is a great big pile of hooey.

Throw out the elves. Tell the DCs they visited for a while but they've now moved on. If you like, compose a note 'from the elves' telling the kids what sweethearts they are and wishing them a very happy Christmas, but it's time for them to return now to the circle of hell from which they came...

Never speak of them again.

I think even leaving early would take a few days to get back to sleeping slightly later, 6yo would think they are just hiding and missed them even with a note.

But even that would be going in the right direction. Write a note saying the elves want them to be good for mummy and getting up in the night isn't that?

We had this last year. But with a 'magic calendar'. Refill pockets with usually an activity or occasionally a chockie in. They woke up earlier and earlier. So we had to say it doesn't appear in the morning, but 'sometime after lunch', and it all stopped, thank goodness! Now they're at school, it works quite well, too.

Sit them down, get a whiteboard (or prepare a PowerPoint) and tell them that the elves hiding things is a critique of bourgeoisie deception and capitalist hoarding, where the elves (representing the ruling class/system) control resources (gifts/magic) and maintain power by creating false scarcity and mystifying the source of production (Santa/North Pole), thus keeping the proletariat (children/working class) dependent and distracted from their collective power, fostering individualism (my gifts) over communal benefit, all while the elves themselves operate a highly secretive, authoritarian workshop (the "means of production").
That'll probably do the trick 😉

Not me thinking you meant the kids 😆

Can they leave a note saying they are needed in the North Pole at night now as they are very busy and need extra help? And that they only come back when it’s light? You would need to be quick hiding them in the morning though 😂

Tell the if the elf catches them out of bed he will invade their dreams like Freddy Kruger

They have had to go back to the Northpole .... even Elves get colds and D&V...

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1827886590/magical-miniature-elf-door-kit-for?gpla=1&gao=1&utm_source=connexity&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_uk_google&utm_content=17660411827080319597418341121008005&gclid=Cj0KCQiAxonKBhC1ARIsAIHq_lv1yM5cW1oqNYRXZzulcf8P22jdh_vdWoTv015HhFp7I1FZMOl3EJwaAgClEALw_wcB

The elves may disappear if the children are naughty getting up before 6am remember!

Just stop doing elf on the shelf. Your kids will still have great xmas memories.
Never done it in this house. My kids aren’t traumatised.

You should set them up with a note explaining that they won’t be able to return if they continue waking up in the early hours. I’d try that first before removing the tradition all together personally.

The Elves heard that someone was hunting for them in the night so now they are too scared to move around any more. Then leave them in the same spot for several days.

And put a clock in the kids' room with instructions on when they are allowed to get up.

Do they really believe the elves are real? I'd just tell them if they keep getting out of bed you'll stop moving them and giving them the surprise of seeing them in the morning.

1. Sort out doing the elves in the early evening. Do some research and plan out your remaining elf days tonight.
2. Lose the elves/bin them. Next year confess it's all bollocks in October.
3. Live a long and happy life.

Mine got sent back to North Pole very early 1 year but left a chocolate coin. This year the elf lost his head and the dog has eaten it - teenagers!

Keep it for this year and think of a good reason why they don't appear next year. Your dc will be giddy with the last week run up to Christmas anyway so will probably wake up elf or no elf.

They're flying close to the sun on that naughty list if you ask me. If the elves catch them out of bed at the wrong time, they will report back to Santa. All year's being good out the window.

This response among all the sweet suggestions of "Oh no, I'll have to go back to the North Pole early through my special elf door," etc., made me laugh so much 😂

Apart from the obvious solution of stopping doing the elves, as a compromise, move them in the daytime instead. When the children are at school, out with somebody else, or even simply in another room.

I remember my parents telling me (with solemn faces) that my seventh birthday would be my last with a party, lots of people over, etc, because I had "outgrown" them, and that next year, it would only be "birthday tea", with a friend or two coming over. I'm not sure if this was for better or for worse: I think I started a thread about this on MN some years ago, but it taught me about making a "managed" exit from something you don't want to do any more, a process I have sometimes followed as an adult.

I come from a pre-elf time. A happier and less stressful time. Can guarantee you that my now teenage children still felt the magic of Xmas without all the mental extra load ( for me!) of devising elf shenanigans. I’d knock it on the head. It’s American bollocks anyway isn’t it?