The Story Behind How an Elf Came to Sit on Your Shelf

We’ve all seen the funny pictures in our news feeds depicting the small dolls dressed as elves doing clever or mischievous things around our loved ones’ homes, but where, do you ask, did this hilarious Christmas tradition come from?

In 2005, american author Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell wrote the children’s book, Elf on the Shelf, and published it themselves (with illustrations done by Coë Steinwart). The story was created by the two in 2004 while having a cup of tea reminiscing about their own family tradition of an elf sent from Santa coming to watch over them at Christmas time.