Elf on the Shelf, Season 2024 - Episode 4

Last week our elves celebrated Taylor Swift's birthday, accompanied Colin and his team to their hockey game and encouraged us to make kiwi pizza. We're already at our last week of Cookie and Biscuit's shenanigans, so let's enjoy it!

Oh no! Our elves have disappeared! This happened a few years ago, which made us very worried. Back then we had milk containers printed, asking people to keep their eyes open for our missing elves.

Looks like this time the Grinch stole them. Here's to hoping they are not being harmed!

Luckily, when we got home, we discovered that Cookie and Biscuit managed to escape and are riding a balloon - where might they be going?

We have been wondering where our elves flew to in the hot air balloon? Looks like it was Keystone, SD, where they climbed Mount Rushmore, I mean, Mount Elfmore.

Quick, without googling, which presidents did they steal the spot from?

Find the answer at the end of this post.

John McElf is throwing Hans Gruber out of the window of the Nakatomi Tower. It isn’t Christmas until Hans is falling! Of course it was an invitation to watch Die Hard ;-)

There’ll be parties for hosting

Marshmallows for toasting

and caroling out in the snow.

There’ll be cheer that erupts

and nice Starbucks red cups 

of Christmases long, long ago

A friend sent me this overview - the history of the holiday cups, so to speak. Do you have a favorite? Mine is 2004, the year I joined Starbucks. 

Part of being a youth player is the annual fundraising duty. Not only do you have to come up with a bunch of generous supporters and give your very best skating as many laps as you can within ten minutes, but you’ll also have to send thank you notes. 

I know, shocking 🤪
Well, it can’t be that bad if your lovely elves set up the writing station for you!

Our elves are playing Hitster, the holiday edition! What is Hitster? It’s a music trivia game where players use song snippets to guess the release year of tracks and arrange them in chronological order, creating a timeline of hits.

Putting these songs together I realized that it was going to be really hard to guess which year they were released, so I asked ChatGPT to put them in the correct order:

• Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas (1957)
• Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock (1957)
• Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (1958)
• Dean Martin – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1959)
• Andy Williams – Most Wonderful Time of the Year (1963)
• José Feliciano – Feliz Navidad (1970)
• John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (1971)
• Elton John – Step Into Christmas (1973)
• Bruce Springsteen – Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1975)
• Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (1984)
• Wham! – Last Christmas (1984)
• Queen – Thank God It’s Christmas (1984)
• Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas (1986)
• Darlene Love – All Alone on Christmas (1992)
• Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994)
• Michael Bublé – It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (2011)
• Leona Lewis – One More Sleep (2013)
• Kelly Clarkson – Underneath the Tree (2013)
• Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me (2014)
• Katy Perry – Cozy Little Christmas (2018)
• Taylor Swift – Christmas Tree Farm (2019)
• Ed Sheeran & Elton John – Merry Christmas (2021)

On Christmas morning Cookie and Biscuit suggested to bake our own Zopf, a Challah-like braided bread.

The season 2024 was concluded by providing the Spengler Cup schedule and some snacks. The Spengler Cup is a popular hockey tournament taking place between December 26 and 31 in Davos, the Grison Alps in Switzerland. Six teams, among them the staple host HC Davos and Team Canada, compete for the cup. Always an entertaining time.

And just like that, Christmas is over. I hope you enjoyed being part of another Elf on the Shelf season. I sure did!

The "missing" presidents on Mount Elfmore were Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.