'Elf On The Shelf': Georgia Born Tradition With A Surprising Rise

ATLANTA, GA — We all know that Santa lives in the North Pole. But, with Christmas season upon us, millions of homes in the United States and throughout the world will soon be visited by one of his most famous helpers, who was born at a kitchen table in Georgia.

"The Elf on the Shelf," with its charming — or, if you ask some, creepy — scout elves who flit about homes helping St. Nick with his "naughty or nice" list, started as a book written and published in 2005 by metro Atlanta mom Carol Aebersold and her daughter, Chanda Bell.

The two were sitting and drinking tea at what Aebersold describes as a low point in her life, when she lacked direction and hope for the future.

"I was telling (Bell) where I was in my life, which was at the very bottom — rock bottom," Aebersold said in a video on her now-thriving company's website. "And I was trying to put into words what I was feeling on the inside. And she said to me, 'Mom, you're such a good writer. Why don't you write a book?' "

But what to write? It was days after Christmas 2004 and Bell looked up to see Fisbee, a toy elf that her mom had received as a gift in the 1950s. In the 1970s, when her kids were young, Fisbee became part of a family tradition.

Aebersold would move him around the house each night, telling her children that he was making sure they were behaving, then flying back to the North Pole to report to Santa.

It was a tradition Bell remembered well when she looked up and saw the elf — sitting on a shelf.

"She looked up on the shelf in my kitchen and she said, 'Mom, we should write a book about our elf tradition and share it with the world,' " Aebersold said. "That was when we started writing the book."

The result was "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition." The book, which comes bundled with a mischievous looking scout elf of your own, was self-published, after the family was turned down by multiple publishers.

Since then, the kitchen-table idea has sold more than 11 million copies.

The family company it spawned, CCA&B, employs 83 full-time workers and more seasonal part-time employees at its offices in Kennesaw, north of Atlanta and has launched multiple related products over the past 13 years.

During the elf's remarkable run, it's been named Best Toy by Learning Express and Book of the Year in multiple children's-book awards. In 2010, the family business began appearing yearly on Inc. Magazine's list of the country's fastest-growing private companies.

A TV Christmas special, "An Elf's Story: The Elf on the Shelf," first aired in 2011. And, in 2012, the elf got what must be considered one of the highest holiday honors possible — a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Clearly, for millions, the elf has been added warmly to the list of holiday traditions.

George Quattlebaum, of Savannah, Ga., said his family enjoyed the elf tradition each year when his daughters were younger.

"I was able to use it to communicate with my youngest daughter through letters," he said. "It was entertaining to see her innocence and belief in the magic of Christmas. Sometimes I wonder if she knew it was her old man writing back to her as Buddy the Elf, or if she really thought it was the magic Of Christmas."

Pamela Nye, a mom in Duluth, Ga., adopted the Aebersold tradition of giving the family scout elf his own unique name.

"We have 'Elf-is' show up after Thanksgiving, and he lazily moves about the house until Christmas Eve," she said. "Luckily he is not the destructive kind of elf often depicted on various Instagram posts."

But while the love is there, Fisbee and his millions of scout-elf brothers and sisters also have come in for their fair share of criticism. The idea that kids should be good because they're being watched rubs some critics the wrong way.

"'The Elf on the Shelf' is just another nannycam in a nanny state obsessed with penal codes," Hank Stuever wrote in a 2011 review of the holiday special for the Washington Post. "As long as you believe in him, the pixie-scout elf is no different than the store security camera and the gizmo that automatically generates speeding tickets. The tattle-tale elf, who reports back to the corporate Christmas machine, fits right in with our times."

A highly unscientific poll of parents found more than a few who have similar thoughts.

"My kid's too young for it right now, but if anyone gives us one, it's going in the fire pit posthaste," one mom said. "I find it creepy. I'm also not a fan of telling my kid that he's being constantly watched. There's the magic of the season and then there's just plain creepy."

"Nope, don’t do it," said another. "I want my kid to be good even when not being watched ... . I do find (the elf) a bit creepy. My son now in middle school says he doesn’t want the 'stalker’s helper' in the house."

But, critics or not, "The Elf on the Shelf" looks to be here to stay.

CCA&B's newest product — "Letters to Santa," a kit with special paper on which to send the old elf your wish list and material to make ornaments, came out this year.

"We take Christmas magic very seriously," Christa Pitts, Aebersold's other daughter who runs the company with her mom and sister, said in the video. "We work at the North Pole 24 hours a day ... the people who work for us are devoted to capturing the magic of Christmas and sharing it with kids (and) parents."

Photo courtesy CCA&B