From Marietta to millions, ‘Elf on the Shelf’ turns 20

Traditions around the holidays are meant to be passed down for generations: songs, ornaments, recipes. So creating a new tradition that resonates with families worldwide is nothing short of a Christmas miracle. But that is exactly what metro Atlantans Carol Aebersold and her twin daughters Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts have pulled off with Elf on the Shelf, which is celebrating 20 years since the release of a modest self-published children’s book with an elf attached to it. Since 2005, more than 30 million Elf scouts and pets have been “adopted” by families.

The basic lore: Elves assigned to each child provide daily reports to Santa at the North Pole on the kids’ activities before Christmas, then return back to the house each morning, typically in a different location.

Now named Lumistella, the privately held business based in an Atlanta office building, is decked out in festive Christmas decor 365 days a year. Even with tariff-related challenges, business is holly jolly with more than 120 full-time employees, up from 70 a decade ago, most of whom work locally. (The company doesn’t release specific financial data.) “It’s surreal. I can’t believe this is where my life is,” said Bell, 51, who is co-CEO with her twin sister. “To be able to grow our little family tradition into a thriving business with all these characters and stories has been really gratifying,” said Pitts. “I think it worked because it came from something genuine and heartfelt.” Elf on the Shelf is now firmly entrenched in the holiday lexicon.

There have been more than 20 books, four animated specials now available on Netflix, a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float and a “Saturday Night Live” skit. There is limited edition Elf on the Shelf cereal and related merchandise ― from toys and clothing to games and craft kits ― sold in 29 countries. A new Amazon Christmas film “Oh. What. Fun.,” shot in metro Atlanta starring Michelle Pfeiffer, features several jokes about an Elf on the Shelf that scares Jason Schwartzman’s character in the dead of night. And for years, inventive fans have posted endless “Elf on the Shelf”-related memes on social media that start with the line: “You’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf, but what about ...” and ending in some sort of clever or corny rhyme and Photoshopped image. Pitts recalled actress Elizabeth Banks posting one in 2019 called “Hanks on Banks” where Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump is sitting on Banks’ shoulder. Other celebrities followed with similar memes. Reese Witherspoon offered John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John on her shoulder, calling it “Grease-on-Reese” while Idina Menzel posted “Denzel on Menzel.”

The first known Elf on the Shelf was a pixie doll elf with an impish grin who grew up with Carol Aebersold in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. At the time, he had no name. He was just part of the decorations. But in 1974, after Aebersold had twin daughters, she decided to bring the elf back. She named him Fisbee and, based loosely on Scandinavian folklore, told her girls that he helped Santa keep tabs on them. They were not allowed to touch Fisbee or he would lose his magic. Then Aebersold began moving Fisbee around each day, calling it a fun “hide and seek” game for the girls and her younger son Brandon. “I distinctly remember whispering to Fisbee and talking to him like a friend,” Pitts said. “We would tell him about what we wanted for Christmas, and we would dream about what he was up to while we were at school. Sometimes he would have flown across the room while we were at school and it was so magical.”

The kids assumed Elf on the Shelf was commonplace among their peers until they went to college and realized “nobody knew what we were talking about,” Pitts said. For years, Fisbee sat on a shelf in Aebersold’s west Cobb home largely forgotten. One day in 2004, Aebersold was lamenting about feeling adrift without purpose now that the kids were grown. Bell, a young mom at the time, spied Fisbee on the shelf and had an idea: Spread the Elf on the Shelf story to the masses with a children’s book she and her mom (both former teachers) would cowrite. Aebersold’s initial response was, “Oh, Chanda, nobody would want that!” But a tiny voice in her head countered her internal skeptic and told her to go for it. When no publishers bit, the entire family including Aebersold’s husband Bob, who owned a steel fabrication company in Kennesaw, chipped in to self-publish 5,000 copies of “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” with elves included.

Bell loaded up on credit card debt. The Aebersolds cashed in their retirement savings. And Pitts quit her job as a QVC host and sold her house to take over the business end of things. During their first year, Bob let them use space at his office. “His employees helped unload our first container of goods,” Pitts said. Aebersold and Bell traveled from holiday market to book fair to gift shop selling copies by hand out of a van. Retail price: $24.95. (Inflation has been kind to Elf on the Shelf: Amazon currently sells the original book for $29.99.) “We are selling tradition: cheeseburgers and apple pie with ice cream,” Pitts told the AJC in 2007 at a children’s boutique in Acworth. “This creates happy memories that people long for.”

That year, Elf on the Shelf got a massive boost when paparazzi caught actress Jennifer Garner carrying the book, which led to a segment on NBC’s “Today.” Sales began to snowball. “It was blood, sweat and tears,” Bell said in 2009. “We stuck to the vision God gave us.” By then, the book was in 8,000 stores nationwide, nearing 1 million in sales with revenues close to $7 million. As social media grew, fans began posting their elves not just sitting on shelves but making breakfast, camping, playing board games and heating marshmallows. Kourtney Kardashian and Sarah Michelle Gellar spread their love of the elves to millions of their followers. In 2011, the family sold an animated origin program, “An Elf’s Story,” to CBS, which aired on the network for three years alongside “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

In “An Elf’s Story,” now available on Netflix, a skeptical 9-year-old Taylor causes elf Chippey to lose his powers, but Taylor eventually changes his tune. As Bell explained to the AJC in 2011 about the story’s core message: “Christmas is something more than what you do. It’s what you carry in your heart.” As Elf on the Shelf grew in popularity, it experienced some backlash. Scrooges online would complain that the elves were intrusive and a bit creepy, not representing the true spirit of Christmas.