New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- I got my son an Elf on the Shelf [an elf doll that accompanies a Christmas book of the same name] this year. Do I regret it? Absolutely. But it reminded me of something this holiday season, something too easy to forget in our modern age.

For an otherwise bright child, my son is convinced that the elf [named Tinsel] is real in the sense that he moves himself around the house at night and ends up in all sorts of compromising positions by morning. The elf can even help with various tasks during the wee morning hours. (Unfortunately, I got blank stares when I asked Tinsel to write this column.)

My son believes that the elf is, in a word, enchanted. I never knew this about my child before getting the elf. I wonder how m...