Why I Don’t Do Elf on the Shelf (and I’m Not Even Kinda Sorry)

In my job as a freelance writer, I recently interviewed a family counselor on the topic of holiday stress. She said the secret to a merry Christmas is goal setting. Determine one or two objectives you want to accomplish this Christmas season, then filter all your activities through them.

For example, let’s say your goal is to relax and spend quality time with family. If addressing 100 Christmas cards helps you reach that goal, then by all means do it. If not, uh, fuh-get-about-it.

Or maybe your goal is to give to the needy. Will spending half a day stringing lights on the trees in your front yard help you accomplish that? Hmm. Probably not, unless you’re collecting canned goods from every car that drives by to gawk.

Think about it. Examining our Christmas to-do’s in light of one or two key goals—it’s life changing. Sanity saving. Brilliant and freeing!

And simplifying Christmas is really, really hard.

Because so many of us have been duped into thinking we need to do it all—the shopping, the baking, the parties, the family outings—in order to make the most of this fleeting, magical season.

But I don’t want to make the most of it.

I want to make less of it.

Less on my to-do list, less running, less stress. I want room for laughter, snuggling, and stillness—to relish in the wonder of a God who willingly plummeted from his heavenly comforts to receive us as a helpless child in a manger. He did that for me. He did it for you.

So my goals this Christmas? (1) To celebrate Jesus, and (2) to build memories with my husband and kids. Technically the elf on the shelf could fit into that second goal. But I have sugar cookies to bake. Nativities to assemble. Paper countdown chains to cut, staple, and hang.

So I’ll leave the elf to you, my friend. He’s your thing. And I have mine. And together we are going to enjoy a very merry Christmas that matters.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).