Oh I give in. I can't ignore it any longer. In one sentence; what the bleddy hell is "elf on the shelf"

[FredWorms]

TIA

They like to lurk in the pebbly twigs and shit

The elves are horrid imo.

We have a spiderman toy which our cleaner arranges in a different surprise location every time she visits (finding it just under the duvet cover scared the shit out of me one night). Maybe I'll put a santa hat on him and say he's a Christmas Spiderman

A GENIUS marketing ploy.

^ luckily I had Father Christmas's phone number

This works all year round in this house. Yes, even in July.

That would just freak my DC's out.

Oh yes Robins. I remember them from my childhood.

'Oh look a robin, he can see you being bold and he's going to tell Santy'

sneaky little fuckers.

Never heard of the elf - thanks OP for bringing it up.

We have infra-red burglar alarm sensors that are sometimes used to remind the DSs of the dact that FC can still take note of behaviour - and yes even in the middle of summer!

Elf is abit like Marmite... You either love him or hate him.

This is the actual elf.
Some people think hes creepy so buy other dolls/teddies to substitute him.

My girls love our elf and they enjoy finding him each morning. Its up to you how far you take this. ie just moving him or making him do more elaborate things. He also works nicely as a visual reminder for the girls. Last year I kept a blog for him and have started again this year.

I'm probably the least twee person you could imagine but ds1 is in love with our elves (not the 'official' ones). He's not that fussed about whether they grass him up to FC, he just loves playing with them, talking to them, involving them in his Christmas preparations and finding out what mischief they've got up to.

We don't put up tree/decs until the weekend before Christmas, so it helps the dc bridge the gap where everyone else seems to be doing it all as soon as advent starts.

It works for us .