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o what is this Santa's Lazy Gnome that I speak of, you ask? As PopSugar reported, it's actually the brainchild of Julie DeForest, a fellow mom who was totally over the Elf on the Shelf nonsense — but still wanted to send a similar message to her kids. "A few years ago, my oldest was wondering when our family elf was going to show up. And I was not prepared for the late-night mischief, the cleaning up," DeForest told a Utah-based ABC affiliate. "So I decided to ask Santa if there were other options — and thus created Santa's Lazy Gnome." The venture — writing the book, working with illustrator Andrew Laitinen, and actually getting it published — took about a year to pull off, DeForest explained. "It really gets the same message across without the added stress that holidays already bring to parents everywhere — and grandparents," she added.