This is not a theological argument if Christians can love Jesus and participate in Santa and Elf on the Shelf. I’ll leave that to wiser bible teachers. This is not a guilt trip if you don’t want to join in on Elf on the Shelf. Girl, you do you. I have a sorority sister, Katie, that has 5 kids and I see her insta stories filled with homemade meals and the cutest bento boxes for school. I will never be Katie…and that’s ok. I was wired to enjoy parties, excel at decorating, and naturally love finding ways to participate in culture and still serve Jesus.

If you like seeing your kids enjoy the Elf on the Shelf, but also love Jesus, and you’re not wired with the creative party gene, then, this is for you. I would love for Katie to show up in my house and pack my 2 kids bento lunch boxes daily, and since it’s not physically possible for me to come into your house nightly to move your Elf, then I want to give you the next best thing.

From the moment I introduced our Elf on the Shelf, I knew I wanted to use it to strategically teach my kids about God’s heart and that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. And so, our Elf moves nightly, not reporting to Santa, but playing Elf games with the kids. Some nights our Elf is extremely creative, and some nights it’s more like hide-and-seek…he just moves to a new location. But every night, our Elf shows up with a new card revealing a deep truth about God’s heart. Five cards with five biblical truths over the course of 25 days. It’s a magical time where our kids can participate in culture, learn and hopefully believe in who God says He is.

Give it a try. Laminate the cards. Don’t feel guilty if your Elf doesn’t move. Don’t judge us moms that are Elf participating…promise my kid is eating a crappy lunch full of bad ingredients next to “Katie’s kids”. Find a mom like me in your neighborhood and give her a key to your house to move your Elf, ha! You better believe if Katie was my neighbor that she’d have a key whether she wanted to or not.

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*activity was originally created using The Village Church resources for Little Village and shared on my family blog in detail