Santa needs elves at Xmas

Thanks to some clever marketing, some of Santa’s elves will be getting a vacation in the weeks prior to Christmas. Officially, their job is to make toys. Unofficially, they provide entertainment and an incentive for children to be good in hopes of gaining Santa’s favor.
A new position has been created in elfdom. There are now special scout elves whose job it is to visit selected homes and report back to the North Pole. As the story goes, when an elf is adopted by a family and given a name, the elf then receives its magic. From that time until Christmas, the elf is relieved of toy-making duties and becomes a spy for the guy in the red suit.
These scout elves are not to be touched or else they might lose their magic. They are also banned from moving while anyone in the house is awake. This becomes problematic if it has an itch somewhere or is placed in an uncomfortable position.
A children’s book, “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” was written in 2005. I never heard of it until last year when one of my nieces posted pictures of all the messes her elf created. In 2011, “An Elf’s Story™” appeared on television. This year the marketing people have gone overboard and elves, books, accessories and assorted other related products are multiplying faster than rabbits in spring. As a result of all the advertising, an elf has arrived in Texas and is awaiting the series of adventures that my daughter has planned for it.
While the idea of a spy elf is new, elves themselves are not. Elves predate Christianity and were popular in old Norse mythology. They seemed to be more like angels or demigods than little people.
They weren’t always viewed as positive entities either, as they were believed to cause human illness. They had healing powers and were more than willing to use these powers for a price. They were even worshiped, as were many other gods of the time.
One of my favorite childhood stories involved elves. Remember “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” by the Grimm brothers? The elves helped out a poor shoemaker then disappeared after the cobbler, and his wife thanked them by making clothes for them. It was a happy little tale.
Elves were the subject of an unpublished book by Louisa May Alcott and published stories by several others in the 1800’s. Clement Moore, who wrote the classic, “T’was the Night Before Christmas,” described Santa Claus himself as a, “right, jolly old elf.”
I wonder if Mr. Moore would be astonished of all the products spawned as a result of that simple tale. There are toys, movies, apps, songs and more books and stories than ever. Elves appear on everything from sweaters to hats. They seem almost as popular as images of St. Nicholas himself.
In addition to spawning new traditions of placing elves on shelves, there are other uses for modern day elves. Today’s elves are helpers. They ring the bells outside of stores and collect donations. They visit the nursing homes during the holidays to alleviate the tedium of people waiting to die. They hold open doors just because they can.
Today’s elves are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. They are the ones singing along with the incessant holiday music that fills the stores. Today’s elves can be seen pushing wheelchairs and walking slowly beside both toddlers and older people. Today’s elves wrap presents for people they don’t know and send packages to far away lands. Today’s elves are everywhere, not just on a shelf.
Santa needs elves. Not even he can fulfill all of a child’s dreams all by himself. That’s what the rest of us are for. May there be a little elven magic and benevolence in all our hearts all year long, not just at Christmas time.

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