Denver Newsroom, Dec 1, 2020 / 02:55 pm (CNA).- For the past 16 years, Elf on the Shelf has become a tradition, both hated and loved, for families in the days leading up to Christmas.
Based on a book and accompanying doll, the elf is a scout for Santa Claus, who watches children’s behavior during the day and reports back to the North Pole every night. There are rules about how to interact with the elf and a myriad of ideas for the things he can do.
Whether Elf on the Shelf is a “footless creep” or a beloved tradition, the concept sparked the idea for Mary on the Mantel, a Catholic spin on the traveling doll that aims help children enter more deeply into Advent.
Erica Tighe Campbell, founder of the Catholic lifestyle products company Be A Heart, was pregnant with her first child last year when she came up with the idea of creating a Mary doll.
“I was doing my baby registry, and..I saw a closet for a doll, and I thought, ‘What doll needs outfits?’” Campbell told CNA.
“Then I started thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, wait, Mary has so many outfits in all of her different apparitions. What if there was a really beautiful Mary doll that looked like other things that are selling?’”
The outfits could help teach children about Mary and her messages in the different apparitions she has made, Campbell added.
“On feast days, you could talk about the different apparitions with your children by getting out her Guadalupe dress or getting out her Fatima dress, and recognizing that she is the same person, but she appears to us differently,” Campbell said.
Campbell said she wanted the doll to help foster a deeper relationship with Mary for children.
“I wanted my daughter to have a doll to teach her about the comfort that Mary brings,” she said.
“In my own life, Mary’s motherly love and care is what has brought me through so many difficult times. As a child, going through things with my family in high school, I would always turn to the Hail Mary, that was my go-to,” she said. “And as I’ve grown as a woman, I really look to her yes…saying yes to God, even when things are uncertain.”
Campbell made her first Mary doll this year, with a simple blue veil and linen dress, available in three different skin tones.
The idea to use the Mary dolls for “Mary on the Mantel” first came from her web developer, who is the father of four children. He suggested that Mary somehow replaced Elf on the Shelf.
Campbell started thinking of ways to tweak the idea of the traveling elf to better suit Advent, and about the ways Christians can prepare their hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.
“Elf on the Shelf reports back to Santa if girls and boys are good or bad, and really in my own spiritual life, I have had to kind of undo that theology of ‘I’m good when I do this and I’m bad when I do this, and God is watching,’” Campbell said.
God is not like Santa, she said, in that he’s not a “transactional God, where as long as I’m doing good, then I will reap the rewards of a gift under the Christmas tree. In my own parenting, I didn’t want to pass that message along to my children.”
“And so I started conceptualizing: what could Mary do instead of being this watchful tattletale? That’s going to create a friendship with her? How do we teach children to be friends with Mary?”
“I started thinking about what Mary was doing, even before they got the census announcement? She was probably preparing her house, preparing all of these things. She went on a trip to see Elizabeth. There are so many ways that we can recognize the personhood of Mary, and talk about that with our children – that she was a girl, she had normal daily tasks that she needed to do.”
In late November, Campbell posted to social media, announcing the idea for Mary on the Mantel – a Mary doll that would show up in different places around the house every morning of Advent.
Instead of Elf on the Shelf’s brand of mischief, Mary would be caught doing things to prepare for the coming of baby Jesus, like washing baby clothes, or reading a pregnancy book, or planning her journey to Bethlehem for the census.
“I have this image of Mary taking our hands and leading us to her Son, a little bit like how I imagine for my own self, having the baby and wanting people to meet her,” Campbell said.
“We get to prepare ourselves for Christmas, and putting up our Advent wreath and our Christmas tree and cleaning the house and wrapping presents – that is similar to our preparation. We prepare homes just as a mother prepares her home to welcome her new baby.”
Instead of reporting on the children’s bad behavior, every morning Mary would be found with a message encouraging children to do a specific act of kindness each day. The notes can be left in Mary’s tote bag, which comes with each ‘Be A Heart Mary’ doll.
“How do we really become like the people who are prepared to meet the baby Jesus in the manger? We can do acts of kindness for others,” Campbell said. Because the parents can write whatever message they want and place it in Mary’s bag, they can choose acts of kindness that are tailored to their child’s development and what they are capable of accomplishing.
“There are simple things to do. You could read a book to your sibling, or you could do a chore without being asked, or you could write letters to your grandparents, or call a friend, little things like that,” she said.
“Children could go through their toys and find toys that they don’t play with that are still good, that could be donated to another child who needs them. But the parents are in control, so it doesn’t get overwhelming.” Mary’s linen dress has room for paper towel or tissue stuffing to make her belly “grow,” Campbell added, as Christmas nears and she prepares to give birth.
And for parents struggling to come up with new ideas, Campbell’s blog post on the idea includes long lists of ideas of activities that the Mary doll can do, and ideas for age-appropriate acts of kindness.
The Mary on the Mantel project can be done with any Mary doll or figurine, Campbell added. After her Mary on the Mantel post, the Be A Heart dolls sold out, though Campbell is hoping to have more in stock soon.
Campbell is also planning the first dress for Mary, which will be the Our Lady of Guadalupe dress. And she has plans for a St. Joseph doll, a baby Jesus doll, a donkey for them to ride on, and more.
The Mary on the Mantel tradition also differs from Elf on the Shelf in that parents do not have to put Mary away once Christmas arrives, Campbell said. In fact, the Mary doll is meant to be a companion all year long.
“We really just think that journeying with Mary is an important way for children to enter into the Advent season,” Campbell said.
“It allows for something fun, and something that parents can do that’s not super complicated, hopefully, and that kids can wake up and be excited for, and be excited about doing things for other people every day,” she said. “I’m interested to see what comes of it as people use their own imaginations with it.”
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When hierarchs jump into bed with the secular atheist bourgeois dominant culture and its political representatives, the least you can expect is the demolishing of statues. It’s merely a prelude to the real agenda – the total elimination of religion that carries with it a distinct moral dimension. (Are there no mirrors in the Cardinal’s residence on 5th Avenue?)
So, Cardinal Dolan proposes respect for statues. I agree that the symbols of religious beliefs should be protected. However, the good Cardinal has told the priests in his archdiocese that they are not allowed to protect the consciences of their parishioners by signing letters supporting their sincerely-held religious conscience exemption from the currently available “vaccines,” all of which are connected to decades-old abortions (there is no statute of limitations on murder) by their use of fetal cell lines created by tissues and organs taken from the babies who were murdered by “doctors.” Protect the statues and buildings from graffiti, but your conscience is not important enough to be protected from immorally researched, developed, produced and/or tested “vaccines.” Even though only God can attest to my conscience, it is nice to have an exemption letter signed by my archbishop, because those who won’t listen to my objections may honor his title. As a member of the lowerarchy, I appreciate his willingness to lend his hierarchical support for my beliefs. Protect the statues. Forget the people.
Well said Donna!
Catholic churches need to start investing in some good quality security cameras. Then they have to resolve to prosecute to the fullest extent possible, those who are caught vandalizing our churches. I am sure everyone would like to think these acts are carried out by folks who are mentally ill. Its more acceptable than believing how much actual hate some people carry around inside them. Adding to this is the all too common reaction to these crimes by prosecutors: ” It’s not being treated as a hate crime.” Punishment has become an unpopular word in leftist circles these days and it’s time it is brought back unto use. Some people actually DO learn from their mistakes, assuming they are not just patted on the head and allowed to go scot-free with no penalty for their actions. Newly elected Manhattan DA Alan Bragg for example, has announced he will not bother prosecuting anyone other than murderers. So if your life, safety, freedom and practice of religion is damaged or suppressed, oh well. For this situation I do not blame the person who ran for office while SAYING EXACTLY what he was planning to do , for which he gets cash, power and prestige. I blame the loose screws who VOTED HIM INTO OFFICE. Disgusting and irresponsible.
“Newly elected Manhattan DA Alan Bragg for example, has announced he will not bother prosecuting anyone other than murderers.”
Most likely it does not even enter into this mindless Manhattan DA Alan Bragg that the mass murders of pre-born children have committed a crime – the crime of mass murder! Just serve him another vodka on the rocks.