You don’t always plan on your Christmas traditions. As a parent, you carry some things over from your childhood – baking Christmas cookies as a family, lighting the Advent wreath each Sunday – but you also discover new traditions, many of which seem almost to happen on their own.
That was certainly the case with “Michael,” our family Elf on the Shelf, who appeared on our front porch in December 2020. Admittedly, my husband and I weren’t looking forward to the commitment. For those who don’t know, an Elf on the Shelf remains still throughout the day, but by the next morning, has magically found himself in some new location, typically having performed some mild act of mischief: he’s hidden in the clock, gotten himself tied up in dental floss by the tooth fairy, stuck googly eyes all over the house. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this proved to be a welcome dash of extra Christmas cheer and one that’s carried through in the years to come.
That also has been the case for St. Stanislaus, the school where I have served as principal for the past three years. When our school secretary brought “Conchita”, our school Elf on the Shelf, into the building, we certainly never would have guessed that it would become a St. Stan’s tradition. But now, each December students’ faces light up as they search for Conchita in the building each day, eager to discover what new mischief she’s gotten herself into or new clue she’s left for them to decipher (last year, it was Conchita who revealed to the students that an outdoor playground would be constructed in the spring). In fact, they eagerly anticipate her arrival, wondering aloud when she’ll make her mysterious appearance each year.
As is the case at home, our school elf also has a job to do. She serves as Santa’s eyes and ears on all those children hoping to avoid the naughty list. Conchita’s role for the children brings wonder to our building and acts as a counterweight to the sometimes manic pre-Christmas energy that many adults feel around this time.
Our silly little elf has the adults in our building just as invested as the students. Conchita adds a bit of childlike joy and wonder to all of our days. We light up watching the students search for her whereabouts (and maybe even join in the search ourselves), and remember to make a little more time for wonder amid the harried business of the school day. More importantly, having a tradition to call our own makes St. Stan’s feel that much more like a family. Like my family at home, our students have that shared experience year after year of searching for Conchita and delighting in her mischief-making. Like that elf on my own family’s front porch, Conchita seemed to arrive in our lives one Christmas, and ever since then, the holiday season has been just that extra bit more joyous and magical.
Angelica Foy is the principal of St. Stanislaus School in East Chicago.