If you know very much at all about the Elf on the Shelf, you know that parents go to great lengths to move the elf (or elves) every night in December leading up to Christmas, and they even create pretty elaborate scenarios showing what the elves have been up to. A parent who commits to doing the Elf for their kids is committing to high maintenance holiday magic.

There are pretty much endless places parents can put the Elf. It could be found in any room of the house, and it is often up to no good. Although the Elf reports back to Santa about the child’s behavior (or children’s behavior), the Elf often gets into some mischief.

Matt Hightower has discovered one place parents should avoid putting the Elf – in the oven.

Matt and his wife Chelsea take turns creating the Elf scenarios for their children. When it was Chelsea’s turn, she put the family’s three elves, Jingle, Belle, and Magic, in the refrigerator. She included a note that reads, “HELP US!! The milk’s gone bad!!” She also dressed up a gallon of milk to make it look like a bad guy.

Chelsea’s idea was clever, and when it was Matt’s turn the next night, he decided to do the exact opposite. Since the elves were clearly cold from being in the refrigerator, he thought they would want to warm up. For his scenario, he put the elves in the oven. He included a sign that reads, “It’s a lot toastier in here!!” The elves were wrapped in paper towels as if to keep warm, and they had black marks on their faces like they were getting toasty.

The next day, while the elves were still in the oven, Chelsea drove to Target by herself to try to finish up some Christmas shopping. She wrote on Facebook, “it wasn’t long into my outing where I received ‘the call’ from Matt unaware of what I would hear next…… ‘Babe I feel horrible (insert long awkward pause) I cooked the elves.’”

While Chelsea was at Target, Matt had decided to preheat the oven while he was getting lunch ready for the kids. He completely forgot about the elves. Their oldest child, 9-year-old Braelon was alarmed when he realized that his dad has turned on the oven. The two younger children, 6-year-old Mattilyn and 4-year-old Quinlan were in the playroom at the time and didn’t see what happened to the elves; they only heard about it afterwards.

Meanwhile, Chelsea searched the entire Kansas City area until she found 3 replacement elves. As far as the kids know, the elves fully recovered.

Chelsea ended her Facebook post by writing, “To whomever this may help in this elf season BAKE COOKIES NOT ELVES!”

In the comments on Chelsea’s Facebook post, many people are laughing at this horribly unfortunate yet hilarious when it didn’t happen to you incident. One comment reads, “This is the most hilarious thing ever! A memory you will tell them every year when they are older.”

Another person wrote, “This is sooo awesome! I’m sure it was devastating, but you guys turned it into a great memory for MANY years to come!!! The kids are ALWAYS gonna talk about the year dad cooked the elves and they had to go to the Elfspital!!”

What’s the craziest place you’ve ever hidden an Elf on the Shelf? Have you ever considered putting an Elf in the oven?