A mom has gone viral on social media this week after sharing a genius Elf on the Shelf for parents to use this Christmas. For those of you who have never heard of the yuletide phenomenon before, <a href="http://craftfactory.com/hacks/the-brilliantly-creative-elf-on-the-shelf-ideas-taking-social-media-by-storm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elf on the Shelf started off as a 2005 picture book</a>, centering around a scout elf who happens to be a mischievous confidant of Santa. One mom put up her Christmas decorations three months early this year: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/LZn3VjPl-II6yemxr.m4a||LZn3VjPl]] Each night in the lead up to Christmas, the elf flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa whether the children have been good or naughty and then returns the next day to sit in a different position in the house. In real life, this means that parents are challenged to buy an elf toy of their own, and hide it around the home in increasingly creative places. But now a woman named <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hilary.ellis.10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hilary Soria</a> has given the tradition a quarantine-inspired special twist. [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3436584709762059]] Per <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/elf-on-the-shelf-quarantine-facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fox News</a>, Hilary took to Facebook on Friday, November 6, and shared a picture of her elf doll wearing a face mask in a snow globe-like mason jar, and holding miniature bottles of hand sanitizer and Lysol as accessories. A caption of the image reads: <blockquote>"ELF ON THE SHELF will need to quarantine for 14 days after his trip from the North Pole! This should help you mamas!! [sic]"</blockquote> Other parents on social media clearly loved Hilary's idea, and her post has since picked up more than 8,800 likes, 13,000 comments, and 387,000 shares as of the time of writing. [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1136247173129169]] In a 2019 interview with <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/american-made-elf-on-the-shelf-holiday-tradition-spreads-magic-around-the-globe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fox Business</a>, Elf on the Shelf co-founder Chanda Bell claimed that over 13 million Elf on the Shelf products have been sold to date and it only seems to be getting more popular. Bell stated: "now there's a whole company with 90 people who work for Santa year-round ... We tell people all the time, ‘You're never too old or too young for a tradition. It's really what it means to families." So if you're taking part in this festive tradition, then why not take a little bit of inspiration from Hilary, and make your elf practice a little bit of social distancing this year?

Mom shares genius 'Elf on the Shelf' for parents to use this Christmas

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