The Elf on a Shelf tradition holds that once he has been named and adopted, he cannot be touched. If you touch your elf, it will ruin Christmas. Even 7-year-old Isabella LaPeruta from New Jersey knew this rule and, when she accidentally touched her elf, she panicked and called her daddy for assistance, but dialed 911 instead.
While Isabella's mother Lynanne was taking a nap, Isabella accidentally hit her elf on a shelf, knocking it to the floor with a ball she was tossing. In a total panic, she envisioned Santa bypassing her house, because of the elf house rules that say if you touch him, the magic of Christmas goes away.
"[I thought] it was an emergency," said Isabella, according to Today. "I was very nervous."
When Isabella called 911, she politely introduced herself. The operator replied, "Hi, Isabella. Why are you calling 911?"
That's when the second panic moment happened for poor Isabella who was just trying to fix her mistake. "Don't come to my house!" she shouted. "Don't!"
Of course, a few red flags went up for the 911 operator and a police officer was dispatched.
"The officer got there and the little girl came out and was trying to shush him away and saying, 'you can go now,'" said officials, according to ABC News.
As Isabella tried to shoo the officer away, her mom woke up to find the girl hysterical, according to USA Today. The police officer took the time to reassure Isabella everything was OK and he radioed back to headquarters.
"Isabella apologized. She touched the Elf on a Shelf. She won't call 911 again," Old Bridge Police Lt. Joseph Mandola told headquarters.
Mandola said his department understood. "In her mind, she did right, and it was fine with us," he said.
A tradition in the town of Old Bridge is for members of the fire department to dress up as Santa Claus and drive around the town. Tuesday night, both the police and fire departments made sure Santa made a special trip to visit Isabella.
"Santa went right to the door and said, 'Everything is OK, don't worry about the elf,'" said Mandola.
