The Elf on the Shelf-A Non-Parent's Review--By Julie

I think I first saw the phenomenon of the Elf on the Shelf about 3 years ago. I might have heard of people doing it before then, but that was when I noticed the marketing behind the whole thing through TV ads. I'll put it bluntly: I don't get it.

When I first researched the whole thing, the only thing I could find was that this elf was supposed to be used as "Santa's Spy" so that kids would be good during the holiday season. The amount of craziness that statement packs is beyond me. Since that time, I can only see that the Elf has become this personality that apparently gets into mischief at night. Or, this is what my Facebook feed leads me to believe. Pictures abound of their family's Elf latest situation.

I still don't get it.

I was born with a very logical brain and outlook on life. Even as a child, there were a lot of things about Santa that just didn't add up to me. You may find this sad, but I never really believed in him. My parents weren't the kind to push Santa (they are good conservative Baptists). They never said anything bad about him. He just wasn't a big deal in our house. So anyone telling me that this one man delivered gifts to the whole world in one night with some flying reindeer was looked at sideways. I distinctly remember being a kindergartener and being told by my teacher one day that we were going to write our "letters to Santa". This did not compute for me. Why? What was I supposed to say? Oh, we are supposed to ask for something for Christmas. ...... Why? So, in one of the only times I ever cheated on an assignment, I copied the boy next to me. He was asking for a bike. Seemed like a good enough thing to write to Santa about.

I never thought about that letter again until I was old enough to appreciate the whole Santa conspiracy. Back in kindergarten, our sneaky teacher gave those letters to our parents. I started to piece the puzzle together. That was the year that I got a scooter for Christmas. It seems that my parents thought I was too young for a bike. Especially considering that I was bound to inherit my older sister's bike eventually. Why buy another one? So, I got a scooter. And, I was thrilled and it had nothing to do with Santa.

Flash forward to my adult years and imagine me finding out that the Elf on the Shelf is the Christmas tradition that we must all subscribe to (said in my best television-marketing voice). I think my first reaction was something of disgust. I couldn't believe that parents were buying into some toy manufacturer's marketing that they must now tell more holiday lies to their children to con them into good behavior. The ridiculousness of it all! I saw it in action just once when I was around my nieces over the holidays. Their mom kept talking about their Elf and what he would tell Santa. The amount of eye rolling from me was criminal, I'm sure.

But, as most things do, the Elf has evolved. It seems that we are all sinful! The elf, once Santa's tattletale, is now finding himself in a few sticky situations. Apparently he is getting bored watching the kids have fun. So, now, it is up to parents to create mischief scenes with their Elf for their kids to find every morning during the holidays.

This isn't so bad on the surface. I like being irreverent and silly. And, as a child, that's super fun. But, now comes the feelings of inadequacy that I only imagine is constant in any parent's life. It appears that now you must strive to be the most creative parent with these scenes. Who can out "Elf" their friends and post the photo evidence on Facebook? And, to help you along and stress you out further, there are plenty of Pinterest tips for creating these Elf scenes. I'm a little over it.

The only thing that keeps me from writing off the entire Elf situation is when I see the truly funny scenes. It usually comes from folks that have boys who may be a little bit older. Or, possibly from people with zero kids and like making inappropriate settings with their Elf. Do a quick Google search for inappropriate Elf on the Shelf. Eye opening, to say the least.

I, myself, am looking forward to a completely adult holiday season. One without Elves on Shelves. It works for me... or it will until I have kids and I will guilt-trip myself into doing these things just so my child isn't the one who doesn't have what their friends have. Oh the vicious cycle...

A Merry Christmas to all my Weekend Fatties!
- Julie Bunkley will be spending her holiday with her grown siblings and parents and no children. The only elves in her holiday will be her dogs who have the cutest elf hats to coordinate with their Christmas collars.

I appreciate Julie's perspective on this, and tend to agree and fall somewhere on the "I don't get it/I don't agree with it" perspective when it comes to the Elf. Another one of our bloggers, Romelle, wrote a blog on this last year that I want to share with you all. So here's the link to get her perspective. Romelle has 6 kids, so her take is slightly different than Julie's. If you have an opinion on this, feel free to weigh in through comments, or if you want to write a post, send it to catidwell222@gmail.com. Now, here's that link to Romelle's blog!

--Amber

Ch-Ch-Changes!

If you're a Weekend Fatty and keep up with this blog on a regular basis, you've probably noticed we have some repeat offenders, er, bloggers. I think it's time to introduce them and to let you know about a few changes here at Weekend Fat.

Amber (For those of you who don't know, that's me.)

I started this blog back in May for a few reasons:

1. I am living in China this year and found myself with a MASSIVE amount of free time. 

2. I am a pop-culture junkie and found myself wanting to start conversations about things I was reading. 3. I noticed that the things I wanted to talk about were being written about on other blogs, sometimes with the exact same angles I had in mind. I didn't want to stand on the sidelines anymore.

4. I have another blog that's more personal, more about me and my life. I noticed when I blogged about Glee or music or Helen Mirren, the readers for those posts were TOTALLY different than the ones who normally read. Market discovered.

5. My friend Meredith gave me a boost of encouragement one weekend that inspired me to stop talking about it and just do it.

It's been 6 months and I gotta say, I am very pleased with the results so far. The average post gets about 90 readers. The most read (my friend Julie's rebuttal/defense to me about Jennifer Aniston) has over 400 hits. The next few most popular (ringing in at over 300 hits) were the ones about Magic Mike and Honey Boo Boo. The total number of individual readers that have come into contact with the blog and stayed for at least a minute, is around 12,000 from what I can tell, though I think it's safe to say that we have a steady following of about 250. Considering I only have about 750 Facebook friends, I think it's safe to say that the Google machine is putting Weekend Fat "on the map." Of course, the world of pop-culture is big, and while I will never run out of topics, I know (hope) that my schedule will change once I go back to America. 

In preparation for that, I will be cutting down to 3 posts a week. But my friends will be contributing, and you, are more than welcomed to do the same. Just email me your post (or ideas!) at catidwell222@gmail.com and we will go from there.

Now...here's who you might see blogging in the future:

Vicky

Vicky-Timing is everything, and I met Vicky through an awesome organization back in Auburn, Alabama that we both got to be a part of, The Layman Group, before it disbanded. We hit it off. Vicky is a theater junkie and super talented with all things related to it. She and her husband now live in Tallahassee, Florida. In my mind, Vicky likes pretty things and laughing a lot. 

Julie

Julie-I met Julie through The Layman Group too, though when I was working at Starbucks in Auburn, she was a regular, so it's hard to know how we actually became friends. In all honesty, she reminded me of someone (no clue who) so it felt like we'd been friends for a while. Julie is a brilliant event planner who has an appreciation for all things Jennifer Aniston, fashion, and Greyhounds. The dogs, not the bus. I cannot imagine Julie on a bus. You can find her blog here.

Sandi

Sandi-I met Sandi in New Orleans when she was 12, but now she lives in Boone, North Carolina and works as a nanny while finishing her degree in Child Development. Sandi devours a lot of really thick books and TV, her greatest fault is that she doesn't like scary things. Her take on pop-culture is fresh and transparent. She is just as likely to be seen watching Game of Thrones as she is Ina Garten. I'm not sure how she'd do in a sword fight, but I know she's a great cook.

Carmen

Carmen-I met Carmen while working at a camp in my teenage years, and though we might be as opposite in personality as two people can be, I liked her snark, her honesty, and the way her hair was always perfect. Now she lives in North Alabama and we have shared pop-culture interests for well over 10 years, including the summer we spent in Montana speaking in movie quotes over long distance calls across the state. She is quite possibly the biggest Veronica Mars fan on the planet, but I have heard her perfectly quote entire episodes of Friends. I pick on her about liking Kristen Stewart, but she does make a convincing case. And that's the thing about Carmen, she can always defend, justify, and explain in detail her reason for liking whatever is that she likes. 

Romelle

Romelle-Romelle is a fellow blogger/wanna be writer who lives in North Carolina. She would want you to know that she has 6 children (one who was married in May and one who will be married in a few weeks) leaving her 4 at home that she Home Schools. She errs on the conservative side of life, loves British drama, hates Anne Hathaway and other shallow ridiculous things, and is probably one of the most quickly clever people I have ever met. We are currently in a stand off about my never having watched Freaks and Geeks. (I will get to it!) You can find her blog here.

Vanessa

Vanessa-Vanessa lives in Fresno, California and is the youngest contributor to Weekend Fat. Since graduating from high school last year, she has been working like crazy on her photography. She has a brilliant eye, and I am convinced she has potential to be the next Annie Leibovitz or National Geographic photographer. You can find her photography on her Facebook page, Vanessa D. Photography. Her pop-culture tastes are black and white, meaning she either loves things or hates them. She is a huge HIMYM fan, and recently called me crying at 2am because she finally finished Six Feet Under. 

Meredith

Meredith-I met Meredith when I worked at Starbucks in Auburn, Alabama, she was a fellow Barista, relocated from New York. She was also heavily involved in The Layman Group. I knew instantly that we would be friends, but she was slower on the uptake. Eventually we found ourselves making the shifts at the 'Bucks' fly, by talking non-stop about pop-culture. She's got a unique perspective on pop-culture, usually laser focused on what she likes, but unpredictable all the same. Though she hasn't written an actual guest post yet, she promises me that there's one (or more) coming. Even if it never materializes, she gives me lots of my ideas for posts and positive feedback that keep this blog going. You can read some of her insights at Verge Pipe Media's blog.

Um, first of all, aren't my friends supermodels? Yeah, I think so too.

Ok, so from here on out, you'll be hearing from me, mixed in a little more with these gals (and possibly even my mother!). I will put a "By" line in the subject when anyone other than me writes, and they will also be tagged in the labels so you can find more of their writing if you like what you see. And trust me, you WILL like what you see.

Thanks for reading, it's been a super fun 6 months. I'm looking forward to many more!

Amber

RE: Friendship Three-ways: Handler/Aniston/Cox-By Julie

As Weekend Fat's resident Aniston promoter (I'm seriously happy with this self-appointed title), I am back to discuss Jennifer's gal-pal choices based on a previous post about friendship.

My own thoughts on friendship in my life goes like this: I am not one to have a million friends. I'm not a social butterfly. I find it hard to have surface relationships, friends of convenience, even just acquaintances. I hate insincerity. I hate snobbery. I hate any type of fake. Thus, I keep friends for a long time. If we become friends, we are going to be friends for the long haul. So, I can relate to the threesome Jennifer Aniston has going on. Let's dissect.

I'll be there for you!

Jennifer and Courteney Cox: This relationship makes everyone happy. They were on a show called Friends. I mean, you can't get better than that. This is your best friend from high school. You spent some very formidable years together. They have seen your awkward phase and love you anyway. You basically grew up together. You shared experiences that make you who you are today. These types of friends are super important. They may not be the friend you see the most these days. You are probably in different stages of life now. But, these friends are the ones that you can pick up right where you left off. No explaining needed. They just get it.

Then you hear that these two friends might not be as close as you thought (did Jenn and Courteney have a fight???). Maybe there was a tiff here or there. Well, that happens. Remember, these people know you. They have known you for a long time. If you start dating someone that isn't really great, they might tell you. And you might not like it. Then, you realize they were right to begin with and all is good again. That's how it works. BFF. To the end.

Chelsea's face says it all.

Jennifer and Chelsea Handler: This type of relationship is your later-in-life type. You both have experienced a lot of things (Jenn's divorce, Chelsea's.... ummm, whatever she has experienced) and you have lost that need to impress people. You are who you are. That doesn't mean that you make friends super fast. It means that when you find that type that cuts through the BS and is actually being real about life, you latch on to them. You laugh a lot. You probably hang out a lot. They are probably in a similar life stage. These types can be complete opposites and that is the beauty of it. They like you for you. And, I'll bet that in Jennifer and Chelsea's case, that is a true rarity in Hollywood.

To be sure, it takes a while to find the Chelsea's. I'm no celebrity, but even I am super guarded around new people. I can be nice and friendly. But, true friends? That takes time. I'm not fake at all. Just not likely to be emotionally slutty around new folks.

I can't say that I can really pick sides on this one. No Team Courteney or Team Chelsea here. Both friendships have their place. And, if Jennifer is anything like me (I like to think that we are alike), then I'm guessing that both of these friendships will be around for a while. I say, Mazel to them!


(Julie Bunkley is a wedding planner in Auburn, Ala. If you ever see her at a Starbucks with her computer, she probably isn't working. She's just looking up celebrity life photos, red carpet gown photos and celebrity wedding news. You can learn more about her here!)

Team Jennifer-A Rebuttal

The following is a response to my unpopular post last week entitled The Failures of Jennifer Aniston.


I've never really had to defend my choice of celebrity love. I just figured you love a celebrity or you don't. Very subjective. How can anyone define what it is that attracts people to others? But, since the great debate of the age seems like it will be Team Jennifer vs. Team Angelina, then I'll play. *To make very clear, I'm not going to speak on anyone "stealing" anyone else. Not at all. Moving on...

The Golden Couple. Damn, I want her arms.

Let's just start with Friends. It's pretty much where Jennifer started. So many folks will have a soft spot for Jennifer just because of Friends. I spent my high school and college careers with these people. So, I look very favorably on the whole thing. Really, my Thursday nights haven't been the same since Friends left. Thus, I own the entire series on DVD. Jennifer spent ten years of her life with one character. Out of all of the Friends characters, Rachel aged the best (Joey's stupidity didn't read well as he aged; Ross just got more annoying, Monica just got stranger, etc.). So call it good casting. Call it good writing. Rachel/Jennifer will be one and the same. I don't know that I could call it type casting really. TV actors have to embody their characters more so than film actors for the show to be good for ten seasons. Jon Hamm will always be Don Draper (thank God). Jeremy Piven will always be Ari Gold. I'm okay with Jennifer always being a little bit Rachel.

Kind of a hippie moment for them, but they match!

I really don't think that people are fair when they say Jennifer is a bad actor and can't do other types of roles. Let's be honest. Do we want to see Jen get uglied up for a role? Nope. Even while on Friends, I can only come up with 2 episodes where she was less than completely put together - The One Where It All Started (pilot - Rachel in a wedding dress drenched from rain) and The One With The Fake Party (where she ended up in her high school cheerleading uniform and a fat lip). We have done this to her. She played her role in The Breakup well because she could be beautiful and angry at the same time. No harm, no foul. Same goes for Rumor Has It. There will be no Charlize Theron/Monster transformations in Jennifer's career. And I think we all want it that way. I believe that Charlize is absolutely gorgeous and can do anything she wants. But, we have allowed ourselves to want Jennifer only in a certain way. And that doesn't include her being ugly (or, gosh, even messy) for a role. Was Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn ever criticized for this? I don't think so.

Stop with the leg! Brad, control your woman.

On to the whole Brad Pitt thing. Well, what can you say? I liked them together. Mostly because I like matching things (it's kind of weird actually) and I just thought they matched. Golden colored hair. Tanned and toned. The cool, beachy thing totally working for them. I loved it. Yes. I am extremely superficial. I'd say that she hasn't been super discriminating in her choice of men since. I mean, if you start at the top, there isn't anywhere else to go but down (in the looks department). But, who hasn't made some mistakes with men? Let her live her life. At least she hasn't dived into the weird category (more on that later).

So, since we've made it to Brad Pitt, let's start comparing Jennifer to Angelina.

Acting: Jennifer - sometimes there is only so much you can do as an actor in terms of your career. Hollywood is a fickle beast. Tom Cruise will always be a cocky jack-ass role. Jennifer, the pretty girl. And you are comparing this to Angelina's... what?... Tomb Raider series? No thanks. I say, Jennifer's being darn smart by taking all her type casting straight to the bank. How many older female actors have complained about the lack of roles? Jen's crossed the 40-year-old mark. She's got to play it super smart. Make her cash now. Then, she can do whatever she wants.

How to have fun on the red carpet!

Sexiness: I am always confused at the folks who claim Angelina is the sexiest thing ever. How so? Because she gives off the dirty girl vibe? Well. You can have that. Angelina is weird. Weird, weird, weird. Vials of Billy Bob's blood? Making out with him on red carpets? Kissing her brother? She's just strange. And that doesn't equal sexy in my book. I like Jennifer's personal style. Or, her stylist's choice for her personal style. She just looks so relaxed in her clothes. And, she smiles!!! Every red carpet she does, she's smiling. Angelina always looks uptight or has decided that she's only there to put on a show. Who poses like that with their nasty skinny leg hanging out of their dress at the Oscars? A weirdo, that's who. And, would it kill her to take a red carpet photo looking slightly more animated than a wax figure? Jennifer has always seemed like someone I'd love to hang out with. Just cool. It's like she knows the whole scene is over-blown and ridiculous. So, bring it down a notch. Even when you compare photos of them on a regular day. I pick Jennifer. And, I've always heard that men like it when women aren't all done up. They like the relaxed, albeit clean and put together, look. Jen wins.

How to hate the red carpet.

One thing I particularly appreciate about Jennifer is that she seems to be living her life on her terms. She doesn't splash her life all over the place. She isn't trying to be someone she isn't (in real life - not on a set...ha!). Angelina always comes off as trying too hard for my taste. Okay, we get it. You want to be known as a decent person. One adoption would have been plenty to make that point. Stop throwing it in everyone's face. I appreciate those that help others behind the scenes. Or, maybe taking on causes that aren't so high profile. Who's to say what charity work is better than others? Basically, Angelina is an over achieving B. Calm down and don't take yourself so seriously!

Therefore, I love Jennifer Aniston. Always have. Always will.

P.S. I take issue with the fact that Angelina is pictured first on a post focusing on Jennifer. ;)


(Julie, 30, lives in Auburn, Ala. and balances her serious and superficial sides by being a self-employed wedding planner and amateur style/celebrity critic. Some of her current goals include: be a reoccurring guest on The Real Housewives of Atlanta (preferably as Nene's bestie); become best friends with Martha Stewart; actually become Kate Middleton. You can keep up with her views on weddings on her blog www.invevents.com.)