Mum accused of going too far marking arrival of Elf on the Shelf
It's officially December, which means that the dreaded Elf on the Shelf is back in millions of houses, terrorising children ahead of Santa Claus's big visit.
One mum, who documents her Elf on the Shelf Cookie's antics every year, is already off to a wild start and has even been accused of going 'too far' by some parents. Check out her elf's big debut:
That's right. For her elf's first trick, mum Julissa Sahm cut a tiny piece of hair from each of her children's heads and left the evidence with the seedy little Elf on the Shelf, accompanied by a note that read: "You guys needed a haircut. No need to thank me. Cookie."
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If you're not familiar with the unsettling phenomenon that is Elf on the Shelf, it's a relatively new Christmas tradition that popped up out of nowhere, and encourages little ones to be on their best behaviour before Santa Claus pays them a visit.
When a family 'adopts' a house elf, he is propped up somewhere in the house to keep a watchful eye on children, reporting back to Father Christmas every night.
When he gets back from his flying visit to the North Pole each night, the elf lands in a different spot in the house, sometimes leaving a mess for kids to find the next day.
Mum Julissa uses her social media to help other parents come up with creative ways to set up their Elf on the Shelf, and is usually met with heaps of praise - but her latest hair-cutting trick didn't go down very well.
She captioned the video: "Cookie the Elf on the Shelf, we do it for fun! Cookie the hairstylist," before adding: "**no kids were harmed in the making*".
Despite the disclaimer, viewers were pretty uncomfortable with the idea of Julissa cutting her children's hair in their sleep - even if it was just an inch.
"That's too much now," one wary follower commented.
"I understand what the joke is, but little me would kill the Elf on the Shelf if this ever happened to me," joked a second.
"Maybe if they had haircuts that day but otherwise nope," wrote a third.
And a fourth complained: "I don’t understand this trend of cutting kids hair and clothing in their sleep without their knowledge for likes. Really disrespectful."
I must admit, if I woke up to discover that a dodgy-looking Elf on the Shelf had cut my hair in my sleep, that elf would very suddenly go missing, never to be seen again.
Ali Condon