One morning Samantha Soares awoke to find an elf had been riding her parents’ vacuum cleaner around the house during the night.

And no, this is not the beginning of a Christmas short story, this is true (well mostly).

The seven-year-old and her family are taking part in Elf On the Shelf, a Christmas tradition that originated in recent years in the United States.

Basically, a couple of weeks before Christmas a 12-inch elf appears in the house carrying Carol Abersold and Chanda Bell’s book, ‘Elf on the Shelf’. The elves are male or female and have different eye colours and skin tones. The children in the house give the elf its name.

“I named mine Flec,” said eight-year-old Caiden Millett. “That is elf spelled backward with the first initial of my name added at the end.”

His two-year-old sister Milena named her elf Sparkles.

There is one rule when it comes to the Elf, children are not allowed to touch him. It supposedly adds to the elf’s mystique.

“Sparkles comes from the North Pole,” Milena explained.

Apparently, the elves are sent by Santa to monitor children’s behaviours. We spoke to a couple of children with elves and they seemed untroubled by the spying aspect of things.

Perhaps this was because the elves are just so naughty. During the day, they’re the picture of innocence as they sit quietly on a shelf. At night, while the family sleeps, the elf seems to grow bored.

“One night the elf grabbed the toilet paper and made a toilet paper curtain,” said Sean Soares, Samantha’s father. “Another night, he was fishing with a toy fishing rod above the toilet. He made snow angels out of powder, and played the saxophone one day.”

The Soares’ elf has also had great fun riding around on their iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner. It rather makes one think that Santa doesn’t have a naughty or nice list for his elf staff.

Children lucky enough to have an elf in residence race each morning to see what the latest prank has been. Mom or dad often take a photo and post it on Facebook or other social networking sites.

“Typically, Samantha reacts by laughing,” said Mr Soares. “She thinks it’s fun. She calls him a cheeky elf.”

‘Elf on the Shelf’ is available in local bookstores and online, www.amazon.com. For elf antics visit Pinterest.com or www.elfontheshelfideas.com.

To find out what local children have to say about the elves, check out our interview here: http://youtu.be/ybEskhceyag