Turn on the Christmas songs and get decorating, the holidays are around the corner, which means lights, cookies, cocktail parties and scanning Pinterest boards at 2 a.m. to win with the most elaborate Elf on the Shelf set-up.
If you're tired of that, you're not alone: A judge in Georgia issued an executive order to ban the Elf on the Shelf from his county.
If you are not aware, Elf on the Shelf is a small toy that, according to Huffington Post, is a special scout sent to your home from the North Pole to encourage children to behave themselves.
Cobb County Judge Robert Leonard sent out a tweet banishing the toy from the county due to it being "a risk to the emotional health and well-being of Cobb's young children." His order is tongue-in-cheek.
"Inexplicably, Elves sometimes move and don't move overnight. When these Elves do not move, it leaves our children of tender years in states of extreme emotional distress," Leonard said in a tweet.
Leonard also added that his executive order was a "gift to tired parents,” and that if families happen to love their elves, they can keep them.
One of them is apparently that of Judge Leonard's. He recalls in the order "a horrific incident in his own home where three children were sent to school in tears, with one child being labeled an 'Elf Murderer' and accused of making the elf 'lose his magic.'"
That school day was undoubtedly "lost to everyone," he wrote. Thus, "given the risk posed to our most vulnerable children outlined above, coupled with COVID and supply chain issues, the Court has no choice but to BANISH all Elves on Shelves from Cobb County."
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram