Tutu is Found (Part 2)

December 2 2023 Day 32

Elf Shrine

Tutu the Elf on the Shelf was nowhere to be found. Over the course of this past summer, my wife and I had traded offices, switching my light and airy windowed office with her dark, cramped cave. I prefer the cave, she prefers the windows.

Somewhere. Somehow. In the course of that move, Tutu, my daughter’s beloved Elf on the Shelf had been misplaced, or heaven forbid, tossed away. Part 1 of this saga was published yesterday, you can read about that here: Tutu is Lost Part 1

I had less than 48 hours before Tutu was to arrive on December 1. Little Bean had already built the elf a new home out of a cardboard box. Little Bean had left Tutu candy. (I ate the candy!)

Desperate times. Enter Wal-Mart.

The beauty of the Elf on the Shelf movement was that they all looked the same. There was a boy elf. There was a girl elf. I drove to Wal-Mart and bought a new, girl, Elf on the Shelf.

With 24 hours before Tutu was to arrive, after my daughter had gone to bed, I opened the new box to discover that the new elf had a darker complexion. Nothing wrong with dark colored skin. Except that when we first bought the elf, skin color options were not available. My daughter’s original elf had a white complexion with blue eyes. This one had a dark complexion with brown eyes.

“Write a note saying Tutu spent the summer in the Bahamas,” my not-helpful wife suggested. No, Little Bean would notice.

So that’s how I found myself at the Wal-Mart return counter trying to explain to the already frazzled clerk, with annoyed shoppers in line behind me, that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the elf that I bought, and in fact there was absolutely nothing wrong with having a dark complexion - either for an elf or, you know, for real people - but that my daughter needed a lighter complexion toy elf, and oh my God, just shoot me now.

But this is Wal-Mart and I’m sure the clerk had heard it all, so I was able to escape with my lighter skin complexion elf and hurried home before my embarrassment reduced me into a puddle of holiday egg-nog.

In the end, just hours before Tutu was to make her grand appearance and the new elf was set to make it’s grand arrival, at that moment I got a text from my wife: “I found Tutu. You can return the other one.”

Ho ho ho.

Tomorrow: Join us for Part 3, Tutu is Risen. There wasn’t going to be a part three but something happened on the day of Tutu’s arrival that is worth discussing. Mainly, that Tutu died, but my daughter found a way to bring her back. Stay tuned.