Christ-Focused Alternative to Elf on the Shelf!!!

You guys, I am over the moon excited about this post! I’m sure you’ve all seen the many, many “elf on the shelf” ideas and posts. As I shared a few years ago here, our family does not do Santa Claus. For similar reasons (and a few more), we’ve never done Elf on the Shelf either.

A while back, my youngest son was asking questions about elf on the shelf. He wanted to know what it was and I did my best to explain it to him, along with why we don’t participate.

When all was said and done, the thing he latched on to was that it would be fun to hide something to find everyday.

I decided to try and create a Christ-centered version for our family to do this year.

It turns out I don’t have to try and cobble something together because Josh & Lindsey Helms have already put it together, and let me tell you, it’s far more amazing than anything I would have done.

Allow me to introduce you to The Shepherd on the Search!

The Shepherd on the Search kit includes:

  • a storybook
  • a super cute 9.5 inch plush shepherd boy doll
  • a decorative box for storing your shepherd for years to come.

About the Shepherd

The plus shepherd doll is so cute! We likely will not be using the included storybook (for reasons I will share below), but I’m very excited about our little shepherd. We plan to use one of our other favorite Christmas stories, and passages from scripture to introduce the shepherd to our children, and then we will hide him each day for our children to find, ending the search at the manger scene included on the box.

About the Storybook

While I’m overall thrilled to see this program and think it’s a great alternative for Christian parents to Elf on the Shelf, we probably will not be using the storybook. For some of you, these things will not be a problem at all, but I just wanted to share for those who might want to know before you get started.

Let me first say that the illustrations in this book are wonderful, and the rhyming text is sweet. Your children will love the story of the little shepherd boy searching for the baby Jesus. Because the book is a way to introduce the Shepherd on the Search program, the first half focuses on the shepherd boy’s journey to the manger, and the latter half explains what to expect throughout the coming days (i.e. hiding of the shepherd each day, etc.). The book does not really get into the whole Christmas story as it mainly focuses on the shepherd boy’s journey.

My specific areas of concern:

Disobedience. The story says specifically that the shepherd boy was told to stay behind, but he went anyway. The story gives his reasoning, “I couldn’t stay behind and miss this miracle so great; I had to see Messiah so I didn’t hesitate!” The positive aspect in this is the message that seeking and finding Jesus is more important than anything else, and I love the shepherd boy’s commitment to that.

However, I’m not sure this is the best way to present that to our children. Oftentimes my sons, especially my oldest with high-functioning autism, think that there is a good reason to disobey when in reality he cannot see or understand the full picture as we can. The Bible offers a clear command for children to honor and obey their parents.

Coming-to-life aspect. As I said above, the first half of the 20 page storybook details the shepherds journey to the manger. The second half offers an explanation of sorts, letting children know what to expect in the coming days–the daily hiding of the shepherd, etc. That section begins, “You see at Christmastime when you are cozy, fast asleep, I’ll pay your house a visit, careful not to make a peep.” Although we encourage our children’s imaginations, this is one of the aspects we don’t participate in. There is a difference in them pretending that the shepherd comes to life and us telling them that the shepherd comes to life and is moving himself around each day. We did not want to participate in that aspect of it.

Overall Thoughts

Despite my reservations about the storybook, I still support and recommend this product. Even with my reservations, I still feel that it’s a better alternative than Elf on the Shelf, in that it points to Christ and not Santa. Even if your family does do Santa, I think the Shepherd is a cute way to keep the focus on Christ, while still having fun and participating in this new hide-and-seek sort of tradition.

Finding the shepherd each day is also a wonderful time to introduce daily advent calendar devotions, etc. As for advent devotions, we love the tabletop flip ones from Dayspring. Each day has a short devotional message, a scripture, and a discussion question and the tabletop format makes it very convenient to use when we’re already gathered around the table for mealtime. This one is half off right now, but I also like the new one from this year. We need to get a new one as ours was ruined with mold in our disaster of a rental house last year.

Continue reading here: Why You Should Attend A Ghc Homeschool Conference

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