The real Elf on the Shelf – Finn from Mull

Every year little elves wreak havoc in homes across the world in what is known as the Elf on a Shelf tradition, writes David McPhee.

It started in 2005 with an American picture book about how Santa sends an elf to watch over children between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to make sure they are well behaved.

The idea is Santa’s little helper sits on a shelf and watches the children by day and each night, he or she returns to the North Pole to report on whether the children were naughty or nice. However, when everyone is asleep, the little helper comes to life and leaves behind something, usually a mess, for the child to find the next morning.

Tobermory mum Naomi Marsh has taken the idea to another level.

Speaking to The Oban Times, Naomi, who runs the Island Crafts shop on Tobermory’s Main Street, said: ‘My son is 10 months old and doesn’t really catch the concept of ‘The elf on the shelf’ so I decided to make him the elf of the shelf.’

From December 1 until Christmas Eve, Naomi and her partner, Nathan Mortimer, posted a photograph a day of their son Finn dressed as an elf, getting up to all sorts of mischief.

In one, he had sabotaged a family portrait. In another he is seen in front of the toilet completely covered in Christmas wrapping paper – with a roll of paper in his lap. Others show Finn making ‘snow’ angels with flour and tying his mum and dad up with Christmas lights.

Naomi said it has been great fun and they plan on doing it again next year.

To view the rest of the photographs, visit www.obantimes.co.uk, or #FinnTheRealElf on Facebook.