Elf on the Shelf Saga

Who knew that this would turn into such a novel experience full of unexpected twists and turns???

  I will be the first to readily admit I did not want to jump on the 'Elf on the Shelf' bandwagon.  I found it rather unecessary and didn't fully 'get' the point -- isn't an omniscient Santa enough to keep kids in line?  Then, of course, irony reared its ugly head and I ended up with an ornery and stubborn child.  So, when Amazon put the 'Christmas Lie Enhancer' on lightning deal, I snapped it up.
  Perhaps, almost fittingly, the day that said enhancer was due to arrive, K mentioned friends at school talking about the arrival of their elves over the Thanksgiving break.  Relieved, she said "I'm so glad we don't have an elf!  Otherwise I'd have to REALLY be good!"  Ahh, sweet child 'o' mine... irony is our life.
  Fast forward to this afternoon and the men in brown delivered our elf.  Now came the tricky part -- how do I announce her arrival?  I can't just put her out - Shorty has seen the Elf on the Shelf display at Target and Walmart, so she would just assume I bought it, making ME the one bringing the narc into our house.  I decided my best bet in this imaginary spy game was to place culpability on the big man himself, Santa.  After some painstaking editing and photoshopping, I came up with this:

Good to know the jolly man supports USPS

  I set the package out and let Shorty discover it when she came home.  She eagerly opened the box -- a package from Santa! -- and then realization hit: "Now I have to be good all the time."

  Night falls, and we move through bedtime rituals (fighting to play longer, fighting to stay in the tub longer, fighting to dance around to random music longer...).  Soon, she is tucked snuggly into bed and I devise ways to make this elf game fun for us all.  I finally settle on having the elf decorate our little tree and have it in K's bedroom when she wakes up -- yay, what a fun Mommy idea!  Points for creativity and she'll be so thrilled that her elf was so industrious...
...Until she wakes up 10 minutes later and wants to sleep in our bed.  "Why?"  "Because I'm scared."  "What are you scared of, sweetie?"  "The elf."  *silence* ... "Uh, why are you scared of the elf?"  "Because you said she would go see Santa and then come back and we have to find her and I'm scared she's going to be hiding in my room."  "Well, sweetie, she's not, she's on the mantle right now"  "BUT I'M NEXT TO HER!"
  It's at this point that D and I realize that she's terrified that this sentient elf is going to report back to Santa and then perhaps come back and dole our justice -- like some sort of adorable mercenary designed to cut down on Santa's load come Christmas:  Santa can't deliver to a child that's not there.

  After a long, drawn out conversation, we explained the elf will not go near her bedroom and is friendly, and sent K back to bed.  Only time will tell what dawn brings...