It's Christmastime, and if we parents don't have enough to worry about with shopping, tree trimming, and baking cookies, that damn elf is back, making many of our lives miserable. Are you one of those people who has the elf caught in elaborate hijinks every night? If you are, bless you.
We're more of the "wake up in a panic at 3 a.m. because we forgot to move it" kind of people. Kids always seem to know exactly where the elf was before they went to bed and search for it as soon as they get up. It's a chore.
Determined not to let her kid down, after her family's elf was involved in a tragic accident, one UK mom came up with hilarious and honestly, genius, solution.
The elf's leg just disappeared into thin air.
Hertfordshire mother Lauren Weir, 30, has two sons. Her eldest son, Tommy, 4, is obsessed with his Elf on the Shelf. The toy is based on the 2004 book Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition, which has become a tradition for millions of families worldwide, and Weir's sons are among them. In a now-viral TikTok video, Lauren explains that her son's elf's leg is gone, and she has no idea where it went.
"My son's elf on the shelf lost a leg. I don't know where it's gone. It's vanished. So I sewed him up," she says in the video.
Lauren thinks her other son is to blame.
The New York Post reported that Tommy planned to take the elf to school, but she had given it to her younger son to play with at a neighbor's house. That's when she noticed he was down to one leg.
"I had given it to my smallest son to play with at my neighbor's and then I was getting all my bits together to leave, I picked the elf up and the leg just wasn't there anymore," she said. "It's not at my neighbors, it's not in the car, it's just vanished off the face of the Earth," she continued.
"The only explanation I can think of is that when I put it into my changing bag as I was leaving school it ripped off somehow."
The elaborate cover-up began to take shape.
Many parents would have just gone out to get a new elf. Not Weir. She figured there was enough magic left in that elf, so she created an elaborate backstory, and it is nothing short of amazing.
The video cuts to a scene where a toy dinosaur is viciously attacking the elf. That would certainly do it, but that's only part of her scheme.
How would your one-legged elf get around?
She could've just let her elf flop on the ground with one leg, but he needed some wheels to keep up with all of the Christmas shenanigans. What did Lauren do? She painstakingly crafted a Lego wheelchair for the elf to get where he needed to be.
The vehicle is made of green and red bricks and easily camouflaged against the rest of her festive holiday décor. "This elf is going to take over my life," the video closes.
Same, girl. Same.
Parents empathized with Lauren's struggles. Elves have proven to be the bane of many a parent's holiday cheer this time of year.
"The things we do for our children! We moved since last Christmas made our elf a whole suit case with clothes that he brought to the new house lol," someone shared.
This stuff seems to happen in everyone's house. "Lol last year our elf's head came offf the look n screams from my kids lmao I glued it back on! Lol" another person commented.
People really loved Weir's quick thinking. "As a member of the one legged crew I love this ingenuity," one person wrote.
"As an amputee I can honestly say I'm represented here nice one ," someone else chimed in.
Others felt grateful they never had to mess with the whole elf business.
"I was just saying I'm glad I never did elf because it seems hard to keep up . You however are killing it!! Good job!" reads one comment.
We are dying! Did she find the leg?
A quick update tells us that the leg has not reappeared. But the elf is happy and "living the best life with his boys."
The TikTok cuts to the elf in his wheelchair sitting with a group of gnomes on a fish tank, trying to catch some dinner.
Lauren, we love you and your creative brain. Can you do us a favor? Please send us a text around 10 p.m. reminding us to move our elves so we don't get busted in the morning and have to come up with a tall tale of our own. We're not quite as quick thinking as you under pressure!
