Monday, December 1st. Our Elf on the Shelf, Fred, has not even been out of his box for 24 hours and I’ve already yelled, begged, sent kids to their rooms, and I’m done for the day. All before 8 AM, people.

Now I’m not a huge fan of Elf on the Shelf after about Day 3. I always forget to move the damn thing (see story below.) This year I was hoping that the kids would let Fred stay in his box and that we would just use our Roaming Reindeer (who don’t even move.) But it wasn’t to be. The kids wanted Fred AND the reindeer. Sigh.

Last year, after already wearing out the “Santa is watching“ threat before Week 1 was even over, I found this awesome Elf Warning for Naughty Kids over at Harper Loft. I love the reason why she created the Elf Warning:

“I won’t lie, the look in Tickle’s glazed eyes sent a shiver of dread to my very core. I knew I had to do whatever I could to help this little helper. So, with Santa’s approval, I created these Naughty Warnings. If Little Johnny racks up too many before Christmas, he gets a big nada come wrapping-paper-tearing-time.“

I only used it once last year. Surprisingly, it was for Mia. Only once. At least she made it past Day 1.