How the Elf on the Shelf tradition started

The Elf on the Shelf meme has taken the 2020 holiday season by storm with celebrities rhyming their names and posting puns in inventive new ways for a meme challenge.

Comedian Amy Schumer created one of the most viral posts featuring Heidi Klum, Orlando Bloom, Rumer Willis and herself. She posted the epic, "Klum on Bloom on Ruum on Schum on Zoom."

The Elf on the Shelf tradition started back in 2005 when Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell self-published the book "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition" along with a special box with a small Scout Elf inside. In an interview with "The News with Shepard Smith," Bell said the tradition is like a "simple game of hide and seek."  

"The elf will watch us during the day, report to Santa at night, and in the morning before kids wake up, the elf flies back from the North Pole and lands on a different spot in the house," Bell said. "They move around the house, they engage with families, hopefully they bring lots of joy and lots of fun."  

Bell cleared up some misconceptions about the popular Scout Elf, the first, is that elves are not mischievous. Second, Scout Elves cannot speak to humans. In fact, they only talk at the North Pole. Third, Bell said that families don't buy Scout Elves, they adopt them. More than 14.5 million Scout Elves have been adopted around the globe since 2005. Finally, Scout Elves are magical beings from the North Pole, like Santa, so they do not get human illnesses and do not need to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Actually elves have only one weakness, and that is that they cannot be touched by humans, it's like kryptonite," said Bell. "They'll lose their Christmans magic, it's very bad for them."

Bell is co-CEO of the Lumistella Company with her sister, Christa Pitts. Their company owns the "Elf on the Shelf" brand and it is continuing to expand. Netflix recently acquired the AV-rights from The Lumistella Company to develop original stories from the company's entire portfolio. Their company also formed new partnerships with brands such as Honey Baked Ham, Hoover Vacuum,  Kellogg's, and Allstate. Bell said that she hopes her story can inspire others to make their ideas into realities. 

"I tell people you've got to take that leap of faith, it's one step in front of the other, and it is hard, owning your own business, running your own business, self-publishing, those things require a lot of dedication, and a lot of patience and a lot of faith, and a lot of risk, but in the end, working hard really pays off, and it is worth it," said Bell.