Elf On The Shelf Kicks Off The Christmas Season In 80-Degree Weather

Update, September 23, 2021: Remember how last year, and most years before that, the holidays started in October? Well, now they're starting in September. This is the sort of chronological anarchy you get when you let Pumpkin Spice Season start in mid-August, and kick off Halloween just after Labor Day.

This week Kellogg's Elf on the Shelf breakfast cereal has returned to supermarket shelves nationwide, because just as it is (apparently) never too early in the year for Christmas cheer, it's also never too early in the day to eat 200 miniature sugar cookies in a big bowl of milk.

As it did last winter fall, Kellogg's has introduced another brand-new variety of Elf on the Shelf cereal that is only available at Walmart. This year's festive, limited-edition flavor is Hot Cocoa, which features cocoa-coated star pieces and white mini marshmallows. (The Sugar Cookie variety, meanwhile, is available in grocery stores nationwide and online.)

In a press release, Kellogg's said the cereal is "Santa's favorite," and that guy is like 800 years old, so odds are good that this cereal is the key to eternal life.

Original post, October 14, 2020: Back in my day, Catholic kids were forced to live under the wrathful eye of God who judged everything we did, just waiting for us to screw up so he could brutally punish us "for funzies." (Gen. 51:1) Nowadays, kids have this cutesy "Elf on a Shelf" malarkey that promises them presents and good feelings, and this is why this next generation is soft. These kids don't know what it means to be hunted by an all-powerful being that can read their minds and stare at them when they're on the toilet! There are 14.5 million of these elves spying on kids from cushy shelves, giving them "points for trying" and not bothering to investigate anything they're doing in the other rooms of the house. They get elves that are so freakin' adorable that Kellogg's puts their cutesy freakin' faces on a cereal box, so children can feel Santa's love during the most important meal of the day. Catholic God gave us one rice cracker a week and a sip of watered down grape juice, then told us we were actually eating was literally his body and to "go in peace," and this is why he never got to be on a cereal box.

Anyway, if you want to get these cereals for your kids, here's the deal: Elf on the Shelf Sugar Cookie Cereal—which is cookie-flavored red and green "star pieces" and mini marshmallows dusted with edible glitter—is now available at supermarkets nationwide. If you're not much for glitter in your cereal and would rather have something that tastes slightly like toothpaste, a Vanilla Candy Cane Cookie—which is just the red "star pieces" with white "crunchlets" and minty mini marshmallows—is available exclusively at Walmart. Remember to take in the joy in your children's faces as they eat their festive cereal as you eat your cold overnight oats. Those little bastards will never know just how damn good they have it.