He seems to be everywhere, stalking you, watching your every move – and now, a Georgia Judge has stepped up to put a stop to it!
No, I am not talking about some creepy “peeping Tom,” but that Holiday imp who will be making his appearance in homes everywhere this Holiday Season – the ubiquitous “Elf on the Shelf.
He may still know when you are sleeping and when you are awake, but Good Ol’ Saint Nick may have fewer eyes in homes this Christmas season after a Georgia judge — jokingly — banned the Elf on the Shelf.
Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Leonard posted a mock order on Twitter banishing these elves.
“Tired of living in Elf on the Shelf tyranny? Not looking forward to the Elf forgetting to move and causing your kids emotional distress? I am a public servant and will take the heat for you. My gift to tired parents,” Leonard tweeted.
According to the holiday tradition, the elves hide in homes for weeks before Christmas and report back to Santa on who’s been naughty and nice. The elf dolls are supposed to move to a different location each night.
“Inexplicably, Elves sometimes move and don’t move overnight. When those Elves do not move, it leaves our children of tender years in states of extreme emotional distress,” Leonard wrote in his order.
He recalled a “horrific incident” in his own home when “three children were sent to school in tears, with one child being labeled an ‘Elf Murderer’ and accused of making the elf ‘lose his magic.’”
Given the risks of such emotional damage — and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — the judge wrote that he had no choice but to banish the elves from Cobb County.
He did make an allowance for parents who don’t feel overwhelmed by the “Elf on the Shelf tyranny,” writing in his tweet: “If you love your Elf, keep your Elf. No contempts.”
The Elf on the Shelf phenomenon was started with an idea by Chanda Bell in 2005. Bell, her mother Carol Aebersold, and her twin sister Christa Pitts are the trio behind the wildly successful “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” storybook.
The book comes with a pixie elf doll, whose job is to keep an eye on the children in the house and report back to Santa every night for his naughty or nice list.
Since its launch in 2005, more than 11 million copies of the book have been sold. Or the way Bell sees it, more than 11 million scout elves have been adopted by families around the world.
None of the authors have commented on the Cobb County “ban.”