Meet the mother-daughter teaching duo who created a Christmas craze.
He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake – he’s the Elf on the Shelf, the Christmas helper who’s been keeping an eye on kids since his debut 12 years ago and who officially arrives in South Africa this year. It’s a dream concept: a sweet storybook plus a little elf who moves to a new location each night to ‘watch’ kids and encourage them to behave in the days leading up to Christmas. And it sprang from the heart. In 2001, Chanda Bell, now 43, a teacher and young mom, was looking for a way to reconnect with her mother, retired teacher Carol Aebersold, now 69, who was suffering from minor health issues and feeling blue about her empty nest.
‘The book really came out of an effort to do something fun together to cheer her up,’ says Chanda. The pair decided to write a children’s story in verse based on their family tradition of three generations – placing an elf, said to tell Santa if the children had been naughty or nice, on a shelf in the house.
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Good Housekeeping South Africa.
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This story is from the December 2017 edition of Good Housekeeping South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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