Elf on the Shelf
He knows when you’ve been naughty
“This thing creeps me out,” he said.
“I know but everyone in his class has one,” she said.
“Do they all look like Slappy?”
“Who is Slappy?”
“You know from Goosebumps?”
She cocked her head to the side, “Still not ringing a bell.”
“Those books everyone read in school.”
“I didn’t read those in school.”
“What did you do then?”
“I had friends.”
“Well loooook at you,” he said laughing.
“So where do we stick this thing?”
“The garbage can?”
“No.”
“Hey kiddo,” he said as the boy walked into the room.
“Yeah dad?”
“Your mom has something to show you.”
“Okay.”
“This little guy is the elf on the shelf.”
“Yeah kids at school have them.”
“Right? He’s Santa’s helper. He’s going to tell Santa if you’ve been a good boy or not.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to name him?”
“Gerald?”
“You want to name him Gerald?” she asked.
“How about Carlyle?”
His dad couldn’t stop from laughing, and muttering what a weirdo under his breath.
“He looks like a Nick,” the kid said.
“Let’s go with that,” she said.
And so they put the elf on the mantle where he spent the day monitoring the boy.
A couple times his parents looked in from the kitchen to see the little boy talking to the elf.
They laughed.
It was beyond cute.
The next day, the boy was in the kitchen talking to the elf, who was now on the refrigerator.
“How’s Nick doing?” she asked.
“He asked where you keep your wallet?”
“What?”
“He said nevermind.”
“Oh okay,” she laughed.
That night she was getting into bed when her husband said, “That was a good move putting the elf on the fridge. Makes it more realistic. I think the kid bought it.”
“I thought you moved it.”
“Well that’s weird. You think he can get up there?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure it out tomorrow.”
But tomorrow morning they had other things on their mind. Someone had wrecked the kitchen. There was food all over and someone had dumped sugar and flour and emptied every box out.
The little boy was in trouble when he came downstairs.
His parents yelled a lot. He kept trying to tell them it was Nick.
“And you’re going to lie. Upstairs mister.”
The man noticed small flour covered footprints. And the elf was back on the mantelpiece. That wasn’t the only thing. Nick’s feet were covered in flour.
“You don’t think he’s that smart to try and cover it up?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. But it’s either that or the elf did it on his own.”
“Now you’re being crazy.”
“I wonder how he got it up here?” he said.
The next day the parents were trying to figure out what to do when they smelled something burning.
They ran into the room to find a pack of matches and several burned sticks on the floor.
“Oh that’s it,” she said and they took the boy up to his room.
“We have told you never to play with matches, young man.”
“It wasn’t me,” the boy said.
“Then who was it?” his dad asked.
“It was Nick. He kept telling me to burn things.”
“What have you been told about lying?”
“It was him. I promise.”
“Do you smell that?” the dad said.
Both parents ran downstairs to find the living room on fire.
To make matters worse they saw Nick laughing as he ran past them.
“What the heck?” the man said as the little doll ran by him.
“Happy Holidays,” Nick said with an evil, as he ran out the door.
They never saw the elf again but more than once the man saw a small elf shaped shadow in the window when it got close to Christmas.
Shame on Nick!!
Nick is how I feel about Christmas :) Thanks.