Thank you for taking the time to send us a comment. I hope you will also take a few minutes to read the following. Our book’s story is the same story as written by Flora Johnson in 1985. She typed the story, and created a hand-sewn doll, that she named Christopher Pop-In-Kins. Within her first year she sold the packaged book and doll in a local gift store. As that first Christmas approached, she made a batch of Christophers and had a kiosk in the local mall. And word of mouth spread from there. The original story that she wrote in 1985 is the same story today. Flora’s son, Rick Johnson, helped by her side, and was always encouraged by the kind letters that they received, describing the memories and traditions that Christopher Pop-In-Kins was creating among local families. In 2002, Rick set up a web site to offer the product, and within the first three years it was sold to individuals in 38 different states. In 2004, Rick took Christopher to Toy Fair in NYC, and to the Gift Mart in Chicago where he received an award. Rick started looking into mass production of the product; his mother and family had created thousands all by hand, and could not keep up with the demand. But that all changed in 2005 when Flora became ill and passed away. Rick was unsure of the future of “Christopher” but he knew he wanted to carry on his mother’s dream. By the end of 2005, Rick started assembling a team of creative individuals to take the story to the next level.

The book has changed from a small booklet to a hard-bound book; the rough drawings have evolved over the years and is now illustrated by an award winning artist, but the story has remained the same. The original cloth, hand-sewn doll has been replaced by a cloth and vinyl, pose-able doll, but it has the same characteristics as the doll Flora created: a big floppy hat, one large ear showing, the color and design of his clothes.

My understanding is that The Elf on the Shelf began its marketing in 2005. Twenty years before that date, Flora was creating and selling her original story and doll, describing Christopher’s “popping into” the children’s homes, playing a game of hide-and-seek, and reporting back to Santa on Christmas Eve. If you would like to see a copy of the story in the “booklet” form, please send me your address; I’d be more than happy to give you one.

If you are looking for more evidence of our timing, please use some of the “time-travel” web site searches to locate the old web sites from 2002-2005.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Dave Kuntzman, President