North Carolina mom Lynn Heinrich’s Elf on the Shelf setup is going viral — because it totally backfired. For those wondering “What on earth is Elf on the Shelf?” the idea is that Santa’s little scout watches children in their homes during the day and then returns to the North Pole at night to report to Santa Claus on whether they were naughty or nice. In the morning, he assumes a new position in the house, which is where Mom and Dad come in to play. Find out what happened to Heinrich in the video above, and detailed below!
“I was feeling creative, and I got shaving cream and sprayed it all over the bathroom mirror and filled one of the two sinks with shaving cream and left a little note that said, ‘Miles did it,’” Heinrich wrote in December 11 Facebook post. “Angel the elf was holding the pencil and had his arm around the shaving cream.”
But Heinrich’s prank went horribly wrong when Miles, 8, woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. “[He] apparently got scared sh-tless that he was going to be in so much trouble that he needed to cover his tracks,” wrote the 35-year-old from Fayetteville. “So he gets a Magic Marker, black to be exact, and draws squiggly lines all over my bathroom walls … Then writes a note with said marker saying, ‘You are ugly Lynn.’”
Before creeping back to his bed, the sneaky second grader laid the Magic Marker across Angel’s lap.
“Now because of this Mother F%^$%$& elf I have to paint my bathroom again,” Heinrich vented. “So to whomever the friggin genius was that came up with Elf on a Shelf, you’re an a–hole and I hope the elf murders you in your sleep!”
Heinrich, who owns online children’s store MileyAnn Boutique, shared a photo of the hilarious aftermath in her post; so far, it’s been shared more than 18,000 times.
“Every morning I have to pretend I have no idea where the elf is and let Miles think he found him first,” Heinrich tells Us Weekly. “So as soon as he heard movement coming from our room he came running in and said, ‘Mom, you are never going to believe what Angel did now.’ I was laughing because I knew what Angel did until I walked into the bathroom and saw the marker. The joke ended up on me.”
Heinrich continues, “He kept saying, ‘I can’t believe Angel did this. Maybe we should call Santa and tell him to take Angel back.'”
Meanwhile, Heinrich isn’t giving up on Elf on the Shelf. “Angel is still active at our house,” she tells Us. “He has just toned down his mischief a little. With Christmas almost here I don’t have time to repaint every room in the house!”
