A popular Christmas tradition in households with young children is the, ‘Elf on the Shelf.’ The tradition involves the Elf moving to a different hiding place around a family’s house each day. The Elf is supposed to watch over the children at all times and to report the day’s adventures back to Santa so he can gauge how good they’ve been during the holiday season.

I cannot begin to explain how creepy this concept alone is to me, and paired with face and smile that I could only categorize as sadistic, this entire tradition puts off a bad vibe.

There is an official website for these creepy creatures. The Elf on the Shelf website describes the Elves as special scouts sent from the North Pole by Santa; they help him manage his naughty and nice list. The website describes the routine that their little celestial beings go through night after night. According to the website, “The Elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Santa Claus about all of the day’s adventures. Each morning, the Elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun.”

Watch the fun? Waking up to a much-too-happy doll face every morning doesn’t exactly satisfy my idea of fun. Realistic dolls with bright, open eyes and forever smiling faces only seem to remind me of some twisted type of Christmas themed Chucky doll.

The popularity of this tradition continues to soar. It seems evident that while younger kids think of their own personal Elf as fun and special, older siblings seem a bit less accepting and happy about these little creatures dwelling in their homes. Chris Lazaro, a tenth grade student told me his personal opinion on the trend, “With their large, soul-piercing, plastic eyes that seem to follow me around the room, I can’t help but feel a great uneasiness around these little Elves.”

The Elves start to make appearances in young children’s homes around after Thanksgiving and leave Christmas Eve, only to return the next year. Why is it that this approximate month long period of these creepy little faces popping up around people’s houses seems to bother so few?

I personally have woken up far too many times with one of these supposedly innocent dolls hidden in my room. In my family, it became less of a fun Christmas tradition and more of a game, find the creepiest location to place the Elf.

They even come with their own official book that was written and self-published in 2005 by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, which is where the tradition originated from. The official website has many games to play and an Elf registry. If you were wondering, the Elves animated faces are just as creepy, if not even creepier than the physical doll’s face. Wonderful. They’ve infiltrated cyberspace too.

When searching, ‘Are Elf on the Shelf evil?’ Google yields over 600,000 results, I don’t really have to wonder why. Some parents seem to be catching on to the fact that these creepy dolls seem to be a bit sinister. That their grin is just too smirky, their cheeks just a little too rosy, always sitting in their seemingly innocent pose.

Kids may act better with their Elf always watching, but at what cost? Parents may be able to threaten children by saying, “The Elf is watching!” but I just don’t think it’s worth having this thing in my house for so long. Shari Goss, a mother of two, was opposed to these Elves. She shared her own way to replace the need to threaten kids with Elves. “They are creepy and I wouldn’t have them in my house. I just use the same old method my mom did, pick up the phone, fake dial, and talk to dead air!”

Most people highly anticipate Dec. 25for the exchanging of gifts, being off school and work, and seeing family members. What I’m looking forward to is the disappearance of Santa’s creepiest little helper. I guess I’m just really against the idea of inanimate objects coming to life in my house at night.

What I want for Christmas is for this haunting tradition to die out.