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Elf Help

We are Santa’s elves, filling Santa’s shelves with a toy for each girl and boy. Oh, we are Santa’s elves!

What Are Elves?

Santa’s little helpers are a race of tinkers who spend each year building toys for Santa to take with him on his annual sleigh ride. There’s more to the elves than simply making toys. They are the very embodiment of Christmas cheer and help Santa keep the holiday magical with their merry ways.

These charming little helpers keep the Christmas spirit alive all year with their ceaseless industry and cheerful singing. But where did we even hear of these merry sidekicks?

Clement Clarke Moore first described Santa as “a right jolly old elf” in the 1823 poem, A Visit From Saint Nicholas. The front cover illustration of the 1873 Christmas Issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book (a popular lady’s magazine from 1830 to 1876) showed Santa surrounded by toys and elves with the caption, “Here we have an idea of the preparations that are made to supply the young folks with toys at Christmas time.”
Soon after the image of Santa’s helpers was popularized in print, elves in the workshop began showing up in films like the 1925 silent feature Santa Claus or the comical 1932 Disney cartoon, Santa’s Workshop.

Helping With The Naughty/Nice List

 

He’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.

Part of the whole toy making and distribution process is determining who is on the nice list. Traditionally, the elves will help out determining who’s getting coal and who merits a gift. You can expect that the magic of the elves to assist in keeping the naughty/nice list sorted out, but there are also elves who come right into your house and judge you throughout the holiday season.

The Elf on a Shelf joined the ranks of Santa’s helpers in 2005 with the release of the book by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell. It seems to be an inanimate doll, but it comes to life at night to return to the North Pole and provide Santa with a status report.

Where Do Elves Come From?

Like the reindeer, elves come from Nordic legend and even today are thought to live among the rocks in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The Huldufólk (hidden people) are held in such esteem that road projects have been stopped out of concern for disrupting elf houses.

Even so, Icelandic elves are a big draw for tourism. There is an Elf Museum that will teach you all about the Huldufólk and even lead you on a tour of local elf sites.

Showing Some Appreciation

So, here’s a shout out to the little people behind the big man in the red suit.