Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? We resisted until last year when my mother-in-law sent one to my daughter. My daughter named the elf after herself…Daughter, Jr. We tried to talk her into a more festive name last year, but she was convinced. Of course at night when my husband and I are discussing moving the Elf, she’s more frequently referred to as the “stupid elf” or “damn elf”. The names particularly come out when we have forgotten to move her before bed.
While I see lots of pictures of shenanigans that various elves get into, our Elf is fairly simple. Ironically, last year the first few spots that we placed the elf were on the Christmas Tree, sitting on a house in our LEGO Christmas village, and hanging from the chandelier. 
After about a week, we finally placed the Elf sitting on a shelf. That morning my daughter was thrilled that “The Elf finally got it right and sat on a shelf! She is called an Elf on the SHELF”.
At nearly 9, I am not sure that my daughter really believes in the whole Elf on the Shelf flying back to the North Pole to report to Santa. For her, the thrill comes in searching for the Elf each morning.
Typically on school days, she doesn’t have much time to search for the Elf, so we opt for fairly easy to find locations on the main floor of the house. 
Hanging out on the entertainment centerBut, on Friday night I took advantage of the fact that she had Saturday morning free and hid the Elf well. I hid the elf in a large mug on the basement bar nestled behind a wine bottle with a Santa jacket and hat.
It took my daughter about 20 minutes of searching across all 3 floors of the house before she found her Elf on the Shelf. Even then, I accompanied her to the basement and walked the whole floor looking everything over before telling her that her Elf was definitely in the basement. She retraced my footsteps and finally noticed the Elf’s hat popping up next to the Santa wine bottle.
