5 Christmas Objects I Only Encountered After Moving to America

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
  • As you've seen in past videos, I'm obsessed with objects. And so with Christmas just days away, I figured now would be the best time to unveil 5 Christmas objects I only saw after moving to America.
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ความคิดเห็น • 1K

  • @mediumjohnsilver
    @mediumjohnsilver 3 ปีที่แล้ว +296

    I can imagine young Laurence grabbing the Elf on the Shelf, placing it on the window ledge (becoming the Fink on the Brink) and swatting it into the back yard (now the Snitch in the Ditch).

    • @quycksylver4822
      @quycksylver4822 3 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      And "Best Comment of the Evening" goes to....

    • @RubyRedhead1
      @RubyRedhead1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      Excellent comment! Also, a most appropriate treatment for that horrid little creature.

    • @melbrod3868
      @melbrod3868 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      I stand in awe of your verbal agility. Well done!

    • @eclipsehorse8693
      @eclipsehorse8693 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      "...snitches get stitches, so watch yerself elf... you didn't see nothin' you don't KNOW nothin!" LOL

    • @diannelavoie5385
      @diannelavoie5385 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Ohhh! Love it. 👍👍👍

  • @SilverGreeneye
    @SilverGreeneye 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    A few years ago, my sister tried to do the Elf on the Shelf thing. My niece, four at the time, dragged a chair over, took the doll down off the shelf, and buried it at the bottom of the guest room closet, so it couldn’t spy on her. I was SO PROUD!

  • @LostinthePond
    @LostinthePond  3 ปีที่แล้ว +310

    UPDATE: As I sort of suspected, Elf on the Shelf did indeed reach the UK - about 5 years after I encountered them in America. No one's safe.

    • @BBQPorkSandwich3
      @BBQPorkSandwich3 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Some of them don’t do crazy things I guess my family was lucky 🤣🤣🤣

    • @sebass615
      @sebass615 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      My first job out of college was working for the company that produces The Elf on the Shelf. I actually participated in the first international trade show the company attended in London in Jan of 2010. This marks the elf’s 10th Christmas in the UK.

    • @bridgetg6857
      @bridgetg6857 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Nooo. I'm so sorry. 😔

    • @magsmonroe6169
      @magsmonroe6169 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Lost in the Pond way to Britishly shut down Uncle

    • @LostinthePond
      @LostinthePond  3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@sebass615 Oh, interesting! I'd read 2013 elsewhere.

  • @Tralman1965
    @Tralman1965 3 ปีที่แล้ว +218

    I had never heard of the Christmas Pickle until this video!

    • @chicagodaddy1
      @chicagodaddy1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      The Christmas Pickle is a Polish tradition. It is very popular in Canada.

    • @ahhitskatie9094
      @ahhitskatie9094 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Very popular in parts of Wisconsin, too!

    • @RubyRedhead1
      @RubyRedhead1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@chicagodaddy1 I never heard of it. Where in Canada?

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      It was a invention of the Hallmark Company to sell another ornament and it not a tradition at all. And the Elf on the Shelf is from a series of books even though people claim it has been around for generations.

    • @andrewchristopher7138
      @andrewchristopher7138 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@chicagodaddy1 I'm polish American and my best friend is from Poland and either of us has ever heard of a Christmas pickle. He even asked his parents and they had never heard of it.

  • @Sparkingthislife
    @Sparkingthislife 3 ปีที่แล้ว +239

    Elf on the shelf is one of the creepiest concepts.

    • @hotwax9376
      @hotwax9376 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Santa as a whole is pretty creepy. "You better watch out, you better not cry...he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake!" Oh, I WILL watch out all right, just not in the way you think.

    • @alexjurek1105
      @alexjurek1105 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Agreed. Who the fuck does this?

    • @mariaalias4096
      @mariaalias4096 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Ikr

    • @Lexykins2691
      @Lexykins2691 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It's the same as Norwegian trolls...they are put in the cabinets to prevent kids from sneaking cookies. Lol

    • @felicityburbridgerinde6922
      @felicityburbridgerinde6922 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@Lexykins2691 Lived in Norway for thirty years, never heard of trolls being used in this way! To be honest, the only mention of trolls is generally in the tourist souvenir shops.

  • @siouxempirecoyote8174
    @siouxempirecoyote8174 3 ปีที่แล้ว +52

    No elf on the shelf for my family. They don’t get along with our house gnomes. Fae can be territorial.

    • @wolf1066
      @wolf1066 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Anyone who bought an elf on the shelf for our family would see from the aftermath *exactly* how vindictive our pisgies can be...

    • @jocelyneke6445
      @jocelyneke6445 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Our family never did Elf on the Shelf. I had never even heard of it.

  • @muc405
    @muc405 3 ปีที่แล้ว +213

    And now the kids who celebrate Hanukkah don't have to feel left out, they have a mensch on a bench instead of an elf on a shelf. MARKETING!

    • @ginnyjollykidd
      @ginnyjollykidd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      This snitchy elf is no mensch!

    • @TomoyoTatar
      @TomoyoTatar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Omg

    • @GrammyDory
      @GrammyDory 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Did you know that the Mensch on the Bench was featured on Shark Tank?

    • @raymondmuench3266
      @raymondmuench3266 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Oy vey ist mir!

    • @wolfgangnomi8837
      @wolfgangnomi8837 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Moichandising, moichandising!! This quote from Spaceballs sums it up nicely....

  • @angelahartley3212
    @angelahartley3212 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    As i was born in 1955 the earliest christmas i remember we had those elves but were never called elf on a shelf and we put him on the tree!

  • @NorthernChev
    @NorthernChev 3 ปีที่แล้ว +123

    I wouldn’t call, ‘Elf on the Shelf’ a tradition either. This is something that didn’t even exist until recently.

    • @nate8088
      @nate8088 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      This is the first I'd heard of it, and I'm from the US.

    • @peteg475
      @peteg475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Not true. I have one from the late 60s.

    • @NorthernChev
      @NorthernChev 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@peteg475 The book was written in 2005... About the concept which you are referencing, which did not become a THING until 2005.

    • @peteg475
      @peteg475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@NorthernChev Well, it was at least some kind of a "thing" since the 1970s, of not earlier. Maybe the book made it much more popular, but I guarantee it's older than that.

    • @NorthernChev
      @NorthernChev 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@peteg475 Right-on

  • @StannisBaratheonOTK
    @StannisBaratheonOTK 3 ปีที่แล้ว +79

    I'd never heard of the Christmas pickle. Also, I'd never seen that shirt before. One of those two things is really awesome, and it's not the pickle.

    • @Deborahtunes
      @Deborahtunes 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I never heard of them either. But then again, I don't eat pickles...

    • @TacticusPrime
      @TacticusPrime 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      It's a German-American thing. Midwesterners use them a lot more. Out here in California, they are basically unknown.

  • @marilynhughey1231
    @marilynhughey1231 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

    Elf on the Shelf died of Covid back in early November

    • @adamarens3520
      @adamarens3520 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      My condolences to the other mourning elves. 😔

    • @GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou
      @GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      One can only hope.
      th-cam.com/video/iPDcUGwfxak/w-d-xo.html

    • @themermaidstale5008
      @themermaidstale5008 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Elves, being magical, are immune to Covid.

    • @hotwax9376
      @hotwax9376 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Hooray! I won't miss that little creep at all.

    • @RubyRedhead1
      @RubyRedhead1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      So, something good came out of COVID.

  • @billboth6572
    @billboth6572 3 ปีที่แล้ว +93

    Replace the Elf on the Shelf with a Weeping Angel. 👿

    • @HermanVonPetri
      @HermanVonPetri 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Brilliant!

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Agreed. Although the bit about the Doctor leaving the TARDIS brake on is wrong. The sound the TARDIS makes is the machine going from demat to remat mode as shown while Tom Baker was the Doctor! It would have been interesting if #4 had encountered the Weeping Angels and offered them jelly babies....

    • @jakeaurod
      @jakeaurod 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      So... the Weeper for the Creeper?

    • @hoodagooboy5981
      @hoodagooboy5981 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Oh, THAT will give a kid nightmares. "Here Jonny, it's a Weeping Angel, now just make sure you don't look away from it."

    • @jrasquared1
      @jrasquared1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      My daughter wanted one for our house (at her dad’s she has one). Instead I introduced her to Krampus and hid a tiny one in her room.

  • @WWatch48
    @WWatch48 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    The only one of those I've had as a part of Christmas was the candy cane. I don't do those other things, and never heard of the pickle.

  • @kerrineilson597
    @kerrineilson597 3 ปีที่แล้ว +161

    Elf on a shelf is creepy...I don’t know many people that do it..

    • @RacingVagabond
      @RacingVagabond 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      It really is creepy, it's just kind of there one day. What makes it really weird is I live alone and have never bought one.

    • @sdraper2011
      @sdraper2011 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Same here. It's creepy.

    • @ginnyjollykidd
      @ginnyjollykidd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      My mom got one, but we kids were all adults then. So Santa and his elves held no sway. No, it was Mom we had to pass muster through, or she would TELL Santa we'd been bad. And Mom had eyes in the back of her head, no elf necessary.

    • @LindaC616
      @LindaC616 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My nieces have them for their kids, they have their own kind of fun with it

    • @bluebird3281
      @bluebird3281 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      GOOGLE does

  • @2x4noah
    @2x4noah 3 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    I remember when elf on a self wasn’t a thing I wish I could go back

    • @wolf1066
      @wolf1066 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Well... apparently, Laurence's bed is a time machine, so he might be able to drop you off in a better timelime.

  • @toddwebb7521
    @toddwebb7521 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Krampus is better than Elf on a shelf for scaring the kids into behaving

    • @LindaC616
      @LindaC616 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Anyone who hasn't heard David Sedaris 's bit on Dutch Xmas traditions should

  • @cijmo
    @cijmo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    So many parents regret starting the Elf on the Shelf thing, especially if they have kids that stretch over 8 years because you have to keep that up for many many years. I quite like the thought of doing it for the cat because it's like, it could be on a different table/shelf each day and the cat can knock it off.

  • @keco185
    @keco185 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    I’ve grown up in America and only heard about elf on a shelf 2 years ago. Those things are creepy, I’m glad I never had one

    • @nthgth
      @nthgth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Same. The hell is that thing?

  • @jaymepittroff
    @jaymepittroff 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Elf on the Shelf was a story and christmas toy in the Aebersold family. When mom, Carol, retired and her children grew up and moved out, Carol was lonely and depressed. Her daughter suggested that they share their elf story with the country, and she write a children's book about the elf. And it has grown to a full empire of Elf on the Shelf. (I saw an interview with the family on tv)

  • @EmeryJude
    @EmeryJude 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Having lived in these United States for 39 years now, never have I ever heard of "Christmas Pickle" like never!

  • @rebcol4926
    @rebcol4926 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Love candy canes, always had them on the tree. I have never heard of a Christmas pickle. So far I have received 4 Christmas photo cards. I had Christmas mugs before Starbucks. We did not have elf on the shelf when I was a kid. In fact I only learned about it a few years ago. I find it quite disturbing.

  • @christelheadington1136
    @christelheadington1136 3 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    My Grandparents were all born in Germany, I never heard of a Christmas Pickle.

    • @FIDreams
      @FIDreams 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Could be akin to fortune cookies. Which were never a thing in China. It's an American made product that has been adopted but the culture it was imitating.

    • @Isabella66Gracen
      @Isabella66Gracen 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I learned about the Christmas pickle quite recently. About 2 Christmases ago. I think its great.

    • @pjschmid2251
      @pjschmid2251 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      My grandparents were born in Germany and Austria and I have never heard of a Christmas pickle.

    • @ahhitskatie9094
      @ahhitskatie9094 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Definitely a Midwestern US thing.

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      It was made up by Hallmark as a sales gimmick is why.

  • @chicagodaddy1
    @chicagodaddy1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    Good Show, Nephew.

    • @kerriirvin5206
      @kerriirvin5206 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      You are real cool! 😉

    • @carolgage4569
      @carolgage4569 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Wait, I thought Laurence’s uncle is “Bob”....😉

    • @nhmooytis7058
      @nhmooytis7058 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Are you the Uncle Toby who makes oatmeal in Australia?

  • @mkolso2
    @mkolso2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    I have never heard of a Christmas pickle.

  • @ahhitskatie9094
    @ahhitskatie9094 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    The pickle thing is really popular in parts of the Midwest US.

    • @dittohead7044
      @dittohead7044 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My German grandma told us about it so we have one on our tree. Go figure

    • @makelikeatree1696
      @makelikeatree1696 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My parents lived in Germany in the mid 1950’s and came home with a Christmas pickle that we had on the tree for years. Don’t remember when it got busted, but with 4 boys, I have no doubt that it did.

    • @philliphernandez4490
      @philliphernandez4490 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I ive in chicago never heard of it...

  • @Mrs.Mallie
    @Mrs.Mallie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I heard a variation on the pickle tradition that if you find it you get to open the first gift

  • @andianderson3017
    @andianderson3017 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The picture cards started because relatives would ask for your picture annually, usually around Christmas to keep up on some family and/or friends wall for the next year to remember you and what you look like (which makes more sense when you realize how big the US is and how far we often live from family and that this started before the internet).
    But like all practical traditions it kept up even after it didn’t make sense anymore and the internet helped us make it more efficient and blend the picture and the card together. People still keep a wall of friends and family this way though, and I still think it’s nice. Finding your picture in someone’s house makes you all warm feeling. And also helps you see who just threw it out and who didn’t😬

  • @trinkab
    @trinkab 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I first heard of the Christmas Pickle when I was shopping at Bronner's (the ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS STORE!) In Frankenmuth , Michigan (VERY Bavarian)... if you have never been there, you should! They had one of their many many many MANY decorated trees dedicated entirely to the Christmas Pickle as well as a tree for each of multitude of other traditions of which you probably have never heard. And also eat at Zehnder's (the chicken!!!!)

    • @dittohead7044
      @dittohead7044 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Love Frankenmuth. Unfortunately they closed the restaurant just before Thanksgiving due to their governors idiotic lockdown

  • @MymilanitalyBlogspot
    @MymilanitalyBlogspot 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Never heard of the Christmas pickle; how strange a custom

    • @hotwax9376
      @hotwax9376 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I really don't get it. How can you get an extra present from Santa on Christmas morning if he came the night before? Does he just bring the extra present then and leave it open for anyone who finds the pickle?

    • @hectorsmommy1717
      @hectorsmommy1717 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@hotwax9376 Yup.

  • @samantharogers9687
    @samantharogers9687 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    We have the pickle tradition in my family. At work we took one of the elf on the shelf and put it in funny positions!

  • @paulad.patterson4732
    @paulad.patterson4732 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Another Christmas tradition you've probably never heard of: waiting until the wee hours of Christmas Eve to wrap presents for your 8 kids, getting so desperate that you call your sister to help and she shows up with extra scissors and tape AND a fifth of Bacardi. Christmas morning the kids are astounded to see Auntie asleep on the couch and are bemused that Santa wrapped the presents in Walmart bags.

  • @LizJasonHEA
    @LizJasonHEA 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I'm a retired school teacher who still works in the school system. the kids come to school so excited to share what their elf on the shelf was up to each morning. The elf on the shelf phenomenon is more for the adults now than the children. The adults try to outdo each other with the clever and interesting places that the elf on the shelf can be found: hanging upside down inside the dryer , sitting on the milk in the refrigerator, riding a skateboard through the living room, well you get the drift. The parents sneak around after the kids go to bed and change the Elf's location and adventure each night. We did get a notice from the school board this year to not emphasize the elf on the shelf so much because there are children who don't have an elf on the shelf and they don't get to experience all the fun. but they also told the teachers they couldn't do the elf on the shelf in their classroom anymore either because it emphasized Christmas too much over the other winter holiday of Hanukkah. So now the kids who didn't have an elf on the shelf at home aren't going to get one at school either. Bah humbug. 🎅🎄
    For more clever ideas of how to make your elf on the shelf experience more fun check pinterest. There are millions of posts oh look where I put my elf on the shelf!!!!

  • @jlpack62
    @jlpack62 3 ปีที่แล้ว +67

    This year it's Fauci on the Couchi

    • @kbautista6364
      @kbautista6364 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thats amazing!! 🤣🤣🤣

    • @caspence56
      @caspence56 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Or a trump on a stump.

    • @msg4925
      @msg4925 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      🤣🤣🤣

    • @nhmooytis7058
      @nhmooytis7058 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      HAHAHAHAHAHA

  • @Fayanora
    @Fayanora 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    "A family game of hide the pickle" sounds kind of perverted.

  • @rogerfleury9759
    @rogerfleury9759 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am 64 years old and I have never heard of a CHRISTMAS PICKLE! Or, the ELF ON THE SHELF! Was born and raised in Oregon. Roger now in Pierre South Dakota

  • @deborahdanhauer8525
    @deborahdanhauer8525 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The elf on the shelf is older than that. People had them in the 50's.
    I have a glass pickle. It's hard to find lol.
    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays❤🌲❤

  • @Kitsunekun2
    @Kitsunekun2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Okay "Santa Hides the Christmas pickle" sounds rather lewd.

  • @kensmith8152
    @kensmith8152 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    There’s a game I heard called find the pickle, but if I described it I’d get kicked off TH-cam.

  • @cjjenson8212
    @cjjenson8212 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks to my parents, for their first Christmas in 1950 she bought a complete set of 6 of the elves the year they came out.
    Long before they added the shelf part.
    And now each of us kids have 1 each along with a putz house from the village set.
    These are our most precious Christmas keepsakes 😊🎄

  • @manxkin
    @manxkin 3 ปีที่แล้ว +40

    I set a mousetrap in the hopes of catching that Elf on the shelf once and for all.

  • @jovanweismiller7114
    @jovanweismiller7114 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    If I needed a 'good coffee' the last place I'd go is Starbucks. That crap tastes like battery acid!

    • @caspence56
      @caspence56 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Overpriced battery acid for sure!

    • @tmcleodjr
      @tmcleodjr 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Definitely overpriced, but there are usually three blends on offer. It's difficult to imagine that you would not be able to find one flavor which doesn't remind you of the taste you imagine you would receive from drinking battery acid. Just saying...

    • @jaykaiser1754
      @jaykaiser1754 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Tom McLeod did you just try to defend Starbucks?

    • @tmcleodjr
      @tmcleodjr 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jaykaiser1754 I meant exactly what I said. Please read more carefully. I'm not saying it's one of my favorite coffee joints nor am I condoning their business practices. If I own any of their stock it's tucked away in a mutual fund. BTW, I doubt either of you have tasted battery acid. Get a life!

    • @jaykaiser1754
      @jaykaiser1754 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Tom McLeod what are you talking about, homie?

  • @internaloptometrist2702
    @internaloptometrist2702 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    People who don’t have kids and say “I haven’t started shopping yet” don’t know the true sweat down your neck of Christmas in the USA. 😂 Joking. But not. I’m fine hahah

    • @danicegewiss862
      @danicegewiss862 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My parents stopped celebrating Christmas when it got expensive (8 kids). I'm the youngest. I never had a Christmas until I moved out on my own.

  • @cyndir7418
    @cyndir7418 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    We had the elf on the shelf waaaaaay back when I was a kid over 62 years ago and it was a lot older then me. My mom would sometimes hang him with his hands tucked beneath his knees and holding a faux mistletoe ball in the doorway of the kitchen. So the elf on the shelf has been around a lot long then the book. He was one of the decorations i always looked forward to finding the the Christmas decoration box and putting up first, it just wasn't Christmas without him. Sadly, after a few household moves of my parents, he went missing.😥 Love your humor, Lawrence. 😀

  • @TheAuntieBa
    @TheAuntieBa 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Older Christmas elves are just dang cute. Got hooked as a small child in the early fifties. I’ve seen cheap, ugly elves, and include Elf on the Shelf.

    • @TheAuntieBa
      @TheAuntieBa 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I have three early fifties elves that my beloved paternal grandparents used every Christmas on their mantle decorations. I claimed them after my grandfather died and began collecting like era elves. It got out of hand and yesterday gave my three small ones and The Elf on the Shelf to the kids of my aide who comes in to help me shower (disabled), and her kids are genuinely delighted. Win win!

  • @diarradunlap9337
    @diarradunlap9337 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Best pic/meme I ever saw in regards to "Elf on the Shelf" was one of two dogs and a destroyed "Elf on the Shelf." One dog has a placard hanging from his neck that reads, "I ATE Elf on the Shelf;" the other dog's placard reads, "I helped because he is creepy."

  • @linkgrayson8994
    @linkgrayson8994 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Elf on a shelf is a relatively new thing it wasn't even a thing until I was in my 20's and around here the elf is very mischievous as well as a tattletale

    • @yvonnepalmquist8676
      @yvonnepalmquist8676 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      It's actually a very old thing that recently got commercialized. (He stated in the video 2005.) I'm in my 50s and my grandmother had quite a few of these when I was growing up. They were pretty popular in the 50s and 60s. They were known as Japanese Knee Hugger Pixies/Elves. I think of them very fondly, as they make me think of her.

    • @jhbadger
      @jhbadger 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      It doesn't even make sense within the Santa legend. He can already watch you when you are sleeping and when you are awake. Why would he need an elf to spy on kids? It's just redundant.

    • @beckysimeone4882
      @beckysimeone4882 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My Elf On A Shelf is at least 69 years old. My Mom !oved putting it out each year and after her death I continued the tradition. Should have said our Elf never moved around and wasn't spying on anyone either.

    • @linkgrayson8994
      @linkgrayson8994 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@beckysimeone4882 what part of the USA do you live in? BC it wasn't a thing around here until a few years ago at the same time certain parts of the country don't have sweet tea

    • @LindaC616
      @LindaC616 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@yvonnepalmquist8676 my mom had the ornaments for the tree (I'm in the same age group)

  • @barbaragrant4857
    @barbaragrant4857 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Just found you on TH-cam. Very amusing! I wanted to add that the elf was added to our holiday only the last few years. I’m the grandmother and I’m happy to say I started it in the family, my 5, DIL, 4 SILS and 14 GC. Our elves are subversive. The emphasis is the elf is naughty not the kids. Every evening after kids go to sleep, parents set up naughty scenes instigated by the elf. In the morning kids investigate all the naughtiness the elf did (and they would never do) with much laughter. I receive messages and pictures every morning from the grandchildren that make my day. We also have the pickle, a leftover from my own German grandmother. We skip the gift though.

  • @EmilyCheetham
    @EmilyCheetham 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Yes candy canes have been sold at Christmas in uk for a LONG time. However they are not as popular here as they are in America or some other countries. This surprises me since they aren’t that dissimilar to rock candy from the seaside and people seem to love buying a stick of rock at the seaside.

  • @pixiebedabinokwematlis3350
    @pixiebedabinokwematlis3350 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Not to leave out our Jewish friends, there is a "Mensch on a Bench" for Chanukah!

  • @sferg9582
    @sferg9582 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I'm 66, lived in the US all my life and never heard of the "Christmas pickle". hmmm wonder why.

  • @fhowe4431
    @fhowe4431 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I started doing the Christmas pickle about 10-12 years ago, and the grandkids always enjoyed being the one to find it, they'd get to open the little box with the elf hat on it and claim the money and candy inside. We do the pickle hunt before anyone opens their gifts, and it's just a way to add a little bit more fun to the day.

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      The pickle thing was an invention of Hallmark in 1986 or so. I was a senior in high school at the time and thought it would never become a tradition, but now people think it is a Polish or German tradition when it was just a marketing ploy.

    • @fhowe4431
      @fhowe4431 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@petenielsen6683 Thank you for the info. It doesn't matter to me where or when it started, I just thought it sounded fun to have the grandkids look for the pickle and win a little prize. They sure enjoy it and that's the first thing the mention when they come in the door. Old tradition or new marketing scheme, just have fun with it, and have a Happy Holiday!

  • @Brianms62
    @Brianms62 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I work for the company that makes Starbucks cups and every year, Christmas designs are a well kept secret from the day they are produced until the day they ship to the stores. You're correct about the shakeup of the red cup. I was shocked when the first one came off the line. Cheers!

  • @binty4719
    @binty4719 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I enjoy this so much. I listen for different pronunciations of words. Patent and controversy are the two I noticed today. Very different. Looking in tomorrow.Peace.

  • @luissdstuff6381
    @luissdstuff6381 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    We have an elf on the shelf. It likes to watch me cut my toe nails.

  • @gregthebaritone
    @gregthebaritone 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    We would always put a hat on our Christmas tree, and go visit our relatives Christmas morning. My dad would hide an egg on him for the Christmas breakfast, and all of the men would exchange socks, but then again, we're Leutonian!

  • @stwalstan
    @stwalstan 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Elf on the Shelf is a new tradition. I was born in 1970 and literally NO ONE had one when I was a child. It was a thing that ascended, as you point out, in 2005. My children didn't have one, but they did have "Black Peter" as an accompaniment to St. Nicholas and Santa Claus (my wife is German, so we kept both days), and in their teens Krampus made an appearance (My wife's brother's kids needed a scare).

  • @adamt4742
    @adamt4742 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    the competitor to that is the Jewish "Mensch on a Bench"... or the inner city has "Snoop on the Stoop"

    • @emilycurtis4398
      @emilycurtis4398 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I love Mensch on a Bench!

    • @catgirl6803
      @catgirl6803 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm sad that I missed out on Snoop on the Stoop

  • @johnbrentford5513
    @johnbrentford5513 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    I’ve been to Germany they don’t know what the hell a Christmas pickle is.

    • @johnp139
      @johnp139 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Except all of the stores selling them to the American visitors.

    • @johnbrentford5513
      @johnbrentford5513 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@johnp139 I was in Germany for two weeks in December went to a lot of the Christmas markets saw no Christmas pickles for sale.

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That is because contrary to popular belief it is not a tradition at all, but something that was made up by Hallmark in the late 1980s to sell an ornament. People who were born and raised in the 1960s also swear the Elf on A Shelf was around during their childhoods even though it is based on a 1990s book.

    • @bigscarysteve
      @bigscarysteve 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@petenielsen6683 I'm a child of the 1960's, and I swear I never heard of Elf on the Shelf until I watched this video.

    • @LindaC616
      @LindaC616 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@bigscarysteve
      So, the elf was around, in other forms. My mom had the ornaments on the tree, I've owned the pencils, etc.
      Then, yes, someone did decide to write a story, so that whole expensive box set and all of the outfits, etc happened

  • @kevinbaker6168
    @kevinbaker6168 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    My favorite tradition is the Elf off the shelf in a sink with a couple of Barbie dolls. (Elf off the shelf with some floozies in the jacuzzi!)

  • @danpittsg
    @danpittsg 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was just given a Christmas Pickle as a stocking stuffer from my friends like 2 days ago, never heard about it till then, and now Lawrence mentions one. XD

  • @thisisme2681
    @thisisme2681 3 ปีที่แล้ว +63

    I never understood Elf on the Shelf. The elf does naughty things and spies on the kids for Santa. I guess I'm a grinch because I just don't find it funny.

    • @RubyRedhead1
      @RubyRedhead1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      No, you are a normal rational human being. What's funny about being spied on and ratted out?

    • @yvonnepalmquist8676
      @yvonnepalmquist8676 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I think he's used one way or the other. Families either have fun with him, making him a naughty elf... or he's the spy reporting back naughtiness to Santa. I don't think he's both.

    • @allanrichardson1468
      @allanrichardson1468 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      A Jewish friend of ours had the Yiddish equivalent (still in the open display box), or maybe an Ashkenazi parody, of the Elf: a figure of an older man dressed in Hasidic garb sitting on a bench reading something: it was sold as the Mensch on a Bench!
      It didn’t spy on anyone, just sat there minding its own business.

    • @ginnyjollykidd
      @ginnyjollykidd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I never did either. It was like those stupid cupie dolls or old, ugly troll dolls. I'm glad I was an adult before Mom got one. I would have hidden it in my toy box and Mom would probably shrugged and let it be.

    • @LindaC616
      @LindaC616 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@yvonnepalmquist8676 that's what my nieces do

  • @eilishfitzgerald7475
    @eilishfitzgerald7475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    The idea of Elf on the Shelf is absolutely terrifying to me

  • @lennybuttz2162
    @lennybuttz2162 ปีที่แล้ว

    My grandma had 2 elves, 1 green, 1 red. Sometimes they were on a shelf or on top of the TV sometimes they were stuck in the Christmas tree but I didn't hear the story about the elf on the shelf until I was in my late 30s, same thing with the pickle. I learned about it in my 30s when I saw the ornament at a Christmas shop. I had to buy one and I enjoy seeing it nestled deep in the tree.

  • @felicityburbridgerinde6922
    @felicityburbridgerinde6922 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    The elf on the shelf has moved to Norway, too, but in a much more fun reincarnation! Rampenissen (the "mischievous elf") has become very popular with young families and even in daycare. There is no reporting to Santa or spying. Instead the rampenisse (often the same commercially available doll as in the US, but not always) does funny things at night - replaces the tube of toothpaste with a tube of chocolate spread, writes Christmas songs with toilet humour on the toilet roll, makes snow angels in icing sugar on the kitchen table, builds things in Lego on the sitting room floor - all kinds of amusing antics!

  • @Nannerchan
    @Nannerchan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I never heard about the Christmas pickle.

  • @theMoerster
    @theMoerster 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Regarding your shirt: I think we have to move Boba Fett off the Naughty List now. He's currently a good guy.

    • @ChozoSR388
      @ChozoSR388 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Technically, Boba Fett has always been a good guy. Bounty hunters are on the side of the law, bringing bad guys to justice.

    • @nthgth
      @nthgth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@ChozoSR388 that's assuming the law is always good, but there's always lawful neutral and lawful evil

  • @Dsdcain
    @Dsdcain 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Somebody gave my daughter an Elf On A Shelf, I think somewhere around 2000. I tried to help her out by hooking the Elf up with the best Barbies my daughter had. I constantly posed them in the most elegant/romantic of positions hoping to score points with the Elf for my daughter's sake. It didn't take long for my daughter to catch on and help come up with Ideas. My "Little Angel" needed all the help she could get. That's actually a happy christmas time memory for me now. 😉👍

  • @moonglow630
    @moonglow630 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    My family & I do the Christmas pickle on the Christmas tree. We just don’t do the extra gift part, though we did one year. And yes, we do have German heritage.

  • @aniE1869
    @aniE1869 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    My kids ripped the head off the elf, put it in the hand of a doctor who toy (10th) and ran around saying he saved the world from an evil alien.

  • @cjmarsh504
    @cjmarsh504 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Elf on the shelf, Christmas scented plugins, Christmas scented candles and last and not least, candy canes! Peppermint, and other flavors. They also have Mac and cheese candy canes!

    • @bethotoole6569
      @bethotoole6569 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I just got clam flavored candy canes. Needless to say those are going to children I’m not very fond of :)

    • @cjmarsh504
      @cjmarsh504 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@bethotoole6569 Yuck!🤢🤢🤢🤢

    • @bethotoole6569
      @bethotoole6569 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@cjmarsh504
      I found about 8 unusual flavored candy canes. From clam and mushroom to pickle and kale! It’s not a complete write off though there’s a bacon flavored one. I’m going to make candy cane bouquets.. we’ll see if they can identify the flavors. Gotta make Christmas fun this year !!!

    • @cjmarsh504
      @cjmarsh504 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@bethotoole6569 That would make money! I'm more old school! The peppermint, or the candied ones!

  • @RottenRogerDM
    @RottenRogerDM 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Christmas Pickle I discovered from Christmas Catalogs ad copy. The Elf on the Shelf was originally a give away decoration from Sears and other companies in the 60s. The 2005 Story was new. Our elf was either in tree or hung over a doorway. No stories of a tattle tale elf were attached.

  • @chrisfrance4076
    @chrisfrance4076 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I love the fact that you're fellow Chicagoan like me, proud to have you here and happy holidays!

  • @Julie_Rios
    @Julie_Rios 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Cats are the boss. Haha.
    The elf is indeed creepy. No, thank you!

  • @melbrod3868
    @melbrod3868 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    You forgot to mention that the Elf on the Shelf moves from one room to another every night. No one is safe anywhere…

  • @ohioalphornmusicalsawman2474
    @ohioalphornmusicalsawman2474 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    My Wife's Polish American family always had the Christmas pickle when She was a kid. My Grandma, Dutch American. gave gifts for Sinterklaas Eve, the first Saturday in December. I used to be sure to behave myself especially well on Thanksgiving, so that St. Nick would stop at my house for Sinterklaas☺

  • @metals1022
    @metals1022 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I'm from Ontario Canada, and until today I thought that elf on the shelf was a Christmas cereal and nothing more.

  • @Jay-ql4gp
    @Jay-ql4gp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I think I've eaten four boxes of candy canes in the past two weeks. And my mom sends a family photo card. But it's just her. And her dogs. And her decrepit antiques. Yes it's a bit painful.

  • @AtarahDerek
    @AtarahDerek 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    #BurntheElfontheShelf
    And no, I don't care what my designated NSA agent has to say about that.

    • @ginnyjollykidd
      @ginnyjollykidd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Don't feel bad. Probably every writer (like yours truly) has a personal NSA agent.

    • @AtarahDerek
      @AtarahDerek 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@ginnyjollykidd "Sir, this person's search history includes how to make chloroform, dissolve a body, and cover up a crime scene. Should I flag her?"
      "No. Look, she also searched for coffee and energy drinks, and about a dozen different synonyms for 'carefully.' It's another dang writer. Move on."

  • @louisagreer1700
    @louisagreer1700 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Part of the Elf on the Shelf is that it moves. Every night it "reports to Santa" and goes to a new location in your house. The kids have a race to find it the next morning, I really enjoyed it when I was little. Some parents get creative with hiding the elf

  • @sansoncommunitymarket2869
    @sansoncommunitymarket2869 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Elf on the Shelf is here for some in New Zealand. He doesn't stop on a shelf overnight though...he is naughty and does things in the night, leaving traces of his being there, such as, getting into the Pantry and in the kitchen attempting (and I mean attempting) to make the household family a cake...flour over the counter, the floor, eggs cracked and missed the cup, milk splashed about....you get the picture....every night of the month of December, the elf will be at it!...One fun one is him bungy jumping from the stair banner and knocking over a plant pot......LOL...its all harmless fun and the mess easy to clean up....nothing is out of bounds though.... ;)

  • @emilycurtis4398
    @emilycurtis4398 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Elf on the Shelf is creepy AF. I just like the memes (Goth on a Sloth, David Grohl in a Hole)

    • @whiteowl4097
      @whiteowl4097 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Fauci on a couchy.

    • @lainiwakura1776
      @lainiwakura1776 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      But why would Dave Grohl be in a hole?

    • @emilycurtis4398
      @emilycurtis4398 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@lainiwakura1776 he just seemed happy there. (I think I saw it on the Facebook page "music puns and memes")

    • @LoyaFrostwind
      @LoyaFrostwind 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Belt on a melt

    • @emilycurtis4398
      @emilycurtis4398 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@LoyaFrostwind (Danny) Devito on a Speedo.

  • @karencrawford4068
    @karencrawford4068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I believe that the pickle is Polish.

    • @Isabella66Gracen
      @Isabella66Gracen 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      it's great. Think it is.

    • @petenielsen6683
      @petenielsen6683 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Made up by Hallmark in 1986 to sell its ornaments! Not a tradition at all.

    • @PixelatedH2O
      @PixelatedH2O 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@petenielsen6683 Do you have a reference for that?

  • @cbc333
    @cbc333 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Elf on the Shelf is down right creepy! The photo cards, are popular in part because family and friends tend to live all around the country and rarely see each other.

  • @alieshasalisbury1453
    @alieshasalisbury1453 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Your description of Elf on the Shelf was hilarious! And your cat is really cute!

  • @Ionan89
    @Ionan89 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    As an American, the only time I've ever heard or seen "Elf on the Shelf" was in memes the past few years...I never even knew of its origins. West Coast, here.

    • @mloftin6472
      @mloftin6472 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I live in the South. It seems like this was invented in the oast several years. What a silly toy.

  • @jennylynn82173
    @jennylynn82173 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    😂 I agree about the Elf! It’s creepy, 😆!

  • @rdhunkins
    @rdhunkins 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    My parents did something like the Elf on a Shelf to me in the early 70's. They just said "There's an elf lurking around watching you, so you had better be good." The made it sound like it was too smart for me or my brother to catch it spying on us. No creepy doll required. Although we did have little elf shaped ornaments for the Christmas tree.

  • @TacticusPrime
    @TacticusPrime 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The Elf on the Shelf is insane, and definitely didn't exist when I was a kid. Google tells me that the blight began in 2005.

  • @whiteowl4097
    @whiteowl4097 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    With the virus going around, we need Dr. Fauci's guidance. So instead of Elf on the shelf, let's change it to Fauci on the couchy. I credit this bit of humor from either Steven Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel, I can't remember , it's either one or the other.

    • @nanmoi8566
      @nanmoi8566 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Dearest Whiteowl,
      Fauci-on-the couchy is the very best !!!
      God love you for it. !!
      Isn’t/hasn’t it all gotten nutz ?
      A happy Yule to you..🎄
      Nobody can change the Solstice. 💕

    • @whiteowl4097
      @whiteowl4097 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@nanmoi8566 Bless you and stay safe Nan Moi.

    • @nanmoi8566
      @nanmoi8566 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Whiteowl And you, good soul.

  • @redtailpunk
    @redtailpunk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    It's times like seeing the Elf On The Shelf that I'm grateful to be Jewish ;)

    • @gortrobot578
      @gortrobot578 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      For Hanukkah it’s the mensch on the bench

    • @RubyRedhead1
      @RubyRedhead1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@gortrobot578 That's right, Matthew. There is no escape.

    • @dittohead7044
      @dittohead7044 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      LOL. He’s certainly not Christian either. It’s for overachieving moms!!!!

  • @johnmcnally5418
    @johnmcnally5418 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I grew up in New England in the 60s and I remember, vaguely, the first appearance of the “elf on the shelf” figure. I remember finding said elf to be creepy because of its arms. Or rather, its “arm.” Singular because it had two arms that joined at what would be the wrists to form a hugging loop. And that “hug” served a purpose: the elf came as a freebie, it’s arm/s looped around the neck of a bottle sold at Christmas time. What the bottle was, I don’t remember. It might have been dish detergent (washing up liquid).
    After that the doll became part of the general agglomeration of Christmas decorations to be put up every year. It usually ended up on a shelf somewhere in the house but never in a child’s bedroom, though.

  • @EmpressoftheLibrary
    @EmpressoftheLibrary 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I grew up in New York. The only place I've ever seen the Christmas pickle is in the Miles Kimball mail order catalog. That company is based in Wisconsin. Thankfully, I was already an adult by the time the Elf on the Shelf came out. One of my younger co-workers (who teaches second grade), did grow up with it. She brought her childhood elf into her classroom to use with her students; she even put a little face mask on it.

  • @peacelovelarkable
    @peacelovelarkable 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The elf is fun for me as a parent as little kids who gets SO excited but I get why so many people hate them lol

  • @FaerieDust
    @FaerieDust 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Elf on the shelf is such an absurdly creepy concept, right up there with "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake".
    Honestly for a nation that's so ridiculously loud about their ~freedom~ they're awfully quick to teach their kids that they have no right to privacy and that 24/7 surveillance is somehow a normal, good thing. Quite fascinating...

  • @carriebuchda3277
    @carriebuchda3277 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    We have pickles on our tree. My daughter taught in Germany for a year. They hadn’t heard of pickles on trees either. Her host family thought that was the funniest thing they had ever heard of. So of course we had to send them a pickle ornament for their tree!

  • @karenbaker1967
    @karenbaker1967 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Christmas peppermint pig. Comes with a miniature hammer in a small cloth pouch. Was introduced in the 1880s in Saratoga Springs, NY. I'm Canadian and received one of these piggy's in my stocking one year. I had never seen one before or since.

  • @MotJ949
    @MotJ949 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Elf on the Shelf is the dumbest thing to stress out parents *and* kids I’ve ever seen. Seriously... it’s all just for your friends on Instagram... your kids only care because you do.

  • @brianmelendy9844
    @brianmelendy9844 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I can't stand that stupid Elf on The Shelf. Also, I have lived in the US my whole life and have never heard of the Christmas Pickle. And those family photo Christmas cards are pretty annoying.

    • @mloftin6472
      @mloftin6472 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      As if people don't already post a million photos of themselves constantly on social media. The family photo cards are definitely basic b****.

  • @tracyb9144
    @tracyb9144 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Elf on the shelf has been a big thing in the UK over the past few years - you can even buy little outfits for him - never saw the attraction really.

  • @ktdaum
    @ktdaum 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    We had a very similar (identical) elf as a Christmas ornament when I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s. Actually, we had three -- one for each kid. They didn't do anything other than hang awkwardly in their too-big-to-be-an-ornament way. No spying, just ... well, they had good personalities.