Naughty but nice! I’m the real-life Elf on the Shelf
Christina Hutson loves dressing up and re-enacting the mischievous antics of Santa’s little helper – and all for a good cause…
In most households, if a bag of flour had been dumped on to the floor, the last person anyone would suspect would be the grandma. But not in my house.
And here I was, in my elf suit, ready to lie down amongst the white powder and make, of all things, a snow angel, right there on the wooden floor. And my husband, Jason, rather than berating me, was laughing along, ready to film me.
To be honest, it wasn’t the first wacky thing I’d done and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. After working as a nurse in a trauma unit for 14 years, I liked to find ways to brighten up people’s day, like wearing silly wigs and cracking jokes.
I wanted to continue the fun when I left, so Jason, now 48, and I opened a fancydress shop in our small town Winslow, Buckinghamshire, and it became a real hit.
The pair of us loved joking around – and helping out in the community – so every year at Easter, Jason would dress up as a bunny and hand out chocolate eggs on the streets or leave them on the doorsteps of people we knew were lonely or struggling.
So when our neighbour, Louise, was given an Elf on the Shelf for her children in December 2018, she turned to us for inspiration. It’s a Christmas toy, where the elf – a doll – has been sent by Santa Claus to find out which children have been naughty or nice. But, as the tradition has grown, the elf itself has become increasingly mischievous…
‘I’ve done 10 days and I’m out of ideas,’ she explained, frazzled.
‘Let me handle it,’ I said confidently. ‘I’ll think of something.’
Wracking my brains, I went into the kitchen where Jason was stirring our spaghetti Bolognese.
‘I know,’ he said, excitedly, dropping the wooden spoon. Within seconds, he was dashing back in, holding a pair of elf costumes and a little pot of rouge make-up.
‘ We’ll do it for her!’ he said. ‘We’ll think of the cheeky antics elves would get up to, then we can film it and send it to them.’
I burst into peals of laughter. This was exactly why I loved him! ‘ You’re barking mad,’ I told him. ‘But you’re a genius. Let’s do it.’
I pulled on the elf costume and Jason looked around for inspiration. Catching sight of the Christmas tree we’d spent hours decorating with glass baubles and tinsel, he pointed to it. ‘Let’s turn it upside
down,’ he exclaimed. ‘That’s what naughty elves would do.’
‘Upside-down?’ I gasped. ‘You’ve got to be joking!’ But, never one to be a spoilsport, I watched as he tipped it over and gaffer-taped it to the ceiling.
As the lights started unravelling and clattering all over the floor, Jason was in hysterics as I posed underneath it, laughing and pointing. ‘This is pure gold,’ he chuckled, tears streaming down his face as he caught it all on camera.
Next, he ran to the downstairs loo and brought out the toilet roll to wrap me up in. ‘Don’t move,’ he instructed, as he started filming again. ‘Stay still and make a funny face.’
By this point, I’d got right into the silly spirit and tipped the flour all over the floor. I didn’t care about the mess it would make, or that it’d take ages to clear up. It would make my neighbour laugh and that was all that mattered.
And when we sent her the three videos, laugh she did. ‘ You should put this on Facebook,’ she giggled. ‘People would love it!’
I was dubious but we set up a page called ‘ When
Grandparents do Elf on the Shelf’ anyway, just to see if we could spread our festive fun. And before we knew it, the views were ticking up higher and higher.
Straight away, people started messaging saying how much we’d made them laugh and inspired them, so we kept going… all the way to Christmas.
We even ended up on a show about things that had gone viral – we couldn’t believe it! But I was so glad we’d been able to spread some joy at the most magical time of the year.
After Christmas, we’d have a chuckle about our silly antics and every now and then someone would watch the videos again. But in September, we started getting messages from friends, family, even strangers, asking if we were going to do it again.
‘ Why not?’ we shrugged, beaming. But this time, shops got in touch to ask if we’d like
to film there to give them a bit of publicity. And it didn’t just stop there.
We decided to do more meaningful videos, too. So we contacted the local fire service and went there to film me squirting the hose across the street. At the end of the film, the station manager reminded people to check their smoke alarms. And in fact, several people got in touch with us afterwards to say they’d checked and discovered their alarms weren’t working.
Similarly, we also raised money for the RSPCA when Jason had to come and rescue me from a dog’s cage. It was so much fun, but also sending out important messages.
Jason is brilliantly creative and comes up with the ideas, while I’m the silly one who messes around in front of the camera.
And then, eventually, on the last one, two police officers came around – after their shifts had finished, of course – to ‘arrest’ me for all of the naughty things I’d done and put me in the back of their car.
My four-year-old granddaughter, Anaya, took that one a little bit seriously though. As she watched it, she turned to her mum, my stepdaughter, Leila, her eyes welling up with tears. ‘ Will Grandma be out of prison to see me on Christmas Day?’
Now I’m 52 and have had to admit that this year will be different, because of Covid. But we’ll try to make another few videos, as well as posting past ones. Because this year, more than ever, we all need something to smile about.