I read the Elf book to the boys a few nights ago.  We also placed "Elfie" on the shelf for his first appearance this year, but the boys did not see him at all in the morning.  We had to draw their attention to the area later that evening until they finally saw him; they were excited and even tried to eat their dinner faster while being "watched".  However, Logan seemed skeptical about the elf initially.  He said to me quietly a couple of times that the elf was just a toy and that we were the ones who moved him around, but at the same time, he seemed nervous not to believe in it.  Then the next morning when Logan saw Elfie on top of the blind, he was happy and immediately said “He is real because you can’t put him all the way up there”.