‘You’ve Heard of Elf on the Shelf, Now Try…’: Michigan Version!

Whether or not you've ever participated in the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition with your own family, surely you've heard of it by now.

It all started in 2005 when Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell published the children's book The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition. What was based on a family tradition for Aebersold and her daughters has since turned into a holiday tradition for thousands of families around the globe.

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Bell explained "Elf on the Shelf" this way to CNBC's Shepard Smith back in 2020:

“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.”

 

RELATED: Easy 'Elf on the Shelf' Ideas to Surprise Your Kids This Christmas

Whether it's lots of fun or lots of parental stress to keep up with depends on your point of view.

The "You've Heard of Elf on the Shelf, Now Try..." Phenomenon

People all over social media have a lot of fun tweaking the "Elf on the Shelf" holiday tradition just by rhyming two other words. Scroll through your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feed for a few moments and you'll likely see photoshopped memes with new versions of "Elf on the Shelf", like:

• Rock in a Croc (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stuck inside a rubber shoe with holes in it);
• Cow on a Plow; or
• Depp on a Step (actor Johnny Depp sitting on the stairs)

We thought it might be fun to make some Michigan-inspired ones! See if you can figure these out.