We love this. We decided to try this instead of Elf on Shelf. I didn't read the part about not being allowed to touch him. Cute story and my 4 year old loved it, especially Christopher. However, the problem we have now is does not want him to go back to the North Pole. She cried for 20 min in bed xmas eve night because she didn't want him to leave. I did not want her to be sad (when she should be super happy/excited) so we said he could stay longer and I tried to explain he is just for fun. This is why I gave it 4 stars because your child might be extremely upset when it's time for the elf to leave :(