It happened about a week ago at the Westgate Mall in Amarillo, Texas (I've been there a few times).
Children were waiting in line with their parents to see Santa Claus - or a reasonable Claus facsimile. Suddenly the innocuous moment was rudely interrupted by a guy named David Grisham - an evangelical street preacher from Alaska.
Grisham began loudly proclaiming to the children that Santa Claus wasn't real and their parents were lying to them. There is no such thing as flying reindeer, there's no toy workshop with elves at the North Pole.
It was a sober moment for the stunned kids and a rather embarrassing one for their now-angry parents.
Grisham was right, of course - he was spewing the truth. But perhaps his method of conveying the fact was thoughtless and crude.
The curious can find a video of Grisham and his dire Santa message at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li3N-eYt4g8&t=3s
If the link doesn't work, just go to YouTube and type in a search for David Grisham.
Okay, I can't hide my real feelings. The guy is an annoying nut case - - but I admire his guts and think the whole incident is hilarious.
I was an extremely innocent and gullible child. I fully believed everything I was told - - and would have probably still believed in Santa when I was forty, had the truth not been revealed to me when I was six.
We had recently moved to California and I got a Schwinn bike for Christmas. My Mom revealed the Santa lie to me and I (miraculously) wasn't phased or shocked in the least. I said to my father "Thanks for the bike, Dad."
End of the Santa myth.
Now, a thousand years later, I have no sentimental feelings towards the Faux Claus Connection. It's ridiculous to lie to children about a fraudulent Santa, no matter how noble the intention. Christmas is a pagan holiday and a insanely commercialized annoyance. Celebrate it in your own way - if you must - but don't force-feed it to the unwilling.
Am I a Scrooge or a Grinch? Hell, yea.
What I like most about the holiday season is the festivity of it all - - the beautiful decorations, the fantastic food, the magical wintery ambiance, the feeling (even though it's completely false) of peace and goodwill.
I'll end this dismal epistle with some photos that I post every year. Most of you have seen them - so just pretend that you haven't. I have other photos, of course, but I don't feel like digging them out of the cobwebs and scanning them.
My first Christmas. Actually, it was technically my second Christmas. I would have been just a year old (I was born on December 13th)
The house where we lived during my first Christmas. My father took this photo on Christmas Eve.
That winter coat amazes me. Kinda looks like a straight jacket. Notice the matching hat. Clueless about my age. Maybe four? I was a tall kid.
Again, not sure of my age. Possibly just turned four?? I look a bit cranky.
You were a cutie pie. GREAT family photos. For the record... I am an OLD, old lady but I still BELIEVE in Santa. I really truly do. The only person who loves Christmas more than Santa and I is my grandson. UNFORTUNATELY, my daughter told him Santa is NOT real. Suffice to say this has been a BIG, big disappointment. So this year Christmas just isn't the same for him or me.
ReplyDeleteThe world can be a cruel and ugly place, and sometimes the wonder of magic and imagination is all we have. I'm glad that Santa is still in your heart.
DeleteI have always enjoyed the fourth picture myself. It is just adorable and seems to convey how thrilled you are to have received something not of your liking??? I'm mixed on the Santa stuff. As I kid, I think deep down I knew, but didn't want a direct answer right away. It was what added some magic of the holiday to me. I later found out whilst rifling through my dads dresser drawers. Something I liked to do when he wasn't around. I found two things that day. My stack of Santa's letters and a stack of Playboys. I knew then I believe I was gay. But I showed my mother and said they had some splaining to do. My mother just turned to look at my father. I don't quite remember how he explained the letters next to tits and ass. And speaking of Grinch wait till you see what I captured the other day in Philly.
ReplyDeleteLetters to Santa and Playboys - - that's hilarious! I used to carefully look through my father's dresser drawers, too, and once I found some condoms.
DeleteIn that fourth photo of me, I think I was annoyed at the flash from the Polaroid camera. And I'm always cranky in the morning. Even as a kid, I hated to get out of bed.
Is Santa any bigger of a lie, than what evangelical street preacher would try to get the kids to believe? He is just trying to convince them that his fiction is truer than another fiction. The face in the last picture, definitely looks like you. You could recreate that one, the cats would love the tree.
ReplyDeleteThat preacher dude had no right to inflict his views on those children. I just thought it was so bizarre and funny.
DeleteMy cats would tear that Christmas tree apart in ten minutes. At least Scruffy and Bosco would. Scratch is much more polite.
Yes, a lot of people would say the preacher is telling lies, too. There are many versions of belief systems. I just don't believe in anyone trying to impose theirs on anyone else. As long as people aren't physically hurting anyone else--leave them be. Hey--we all get psychological damage. Hard to avoid--LOL! Leave them be. None of his business...whether I agree with him or not, you know?
ReplyDeleteGreat pics of you when you were a little guy. I don't have any big moment when I knew there was no Santa. Seems like I always knew. But it is fun. Life should have more fun and playfulness.
It's up to the parents to teacher their children - - not some weird stranger at a mall. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but spewing it on unsuspecting kids is wrong. For some reason, the incident really struck me funny - - probably because it was so completely bizarre!
DeleteI was flipping thru the TV channels this morning not wanting to get out of my warm bed. I came across a guy teaching about the probable correct date for Christ's birth, ok, it made sense, and how Christmas was merged with Saturnalia, yeah I knew that too. Then he proceeded to say no one should celebrate Christmas because it's not in the bible that we should remember or celebrate it. And with a nice Bah, Humbug to him I cut the TV off. Celebrate or not as you wish, believe in Santa (there was a real St Nicholas) or not but don't ruin other people's holidays is what I say.
ReplyDeleteSince there are no comments for yesterday I'll post this today, a suggestion on hauling your groceries: maybe a little wagon or cart to haul them up the hill would work?
Best wishes for you and the kitties no matter how you celebrate, or don't.
People are entitled to their own beliefs, but they shouldn't force those beliefs on unsuspecting children at a public mall.
DeleteI actually thought about using a wheelbarrow to get the heavy groceries from the car to the house. Perhaps I will. It's better than ravaging my back.
I don't remember ever believing in Santa, but it wasn't up to that preacher to be the one to tell those kids. This is some cute pictures of you as a child. Well it feels like summer down here in south Alabama the pass few days I hope it will be cold for Christmas I like cold weather, but not freezing cold like where you live. Take care and stay warm. Jean
ReplyDeleteI was a very gullible child and believed in just about anything.
DeleteEarly last night it was extremely warm - about 65 degrees. Then a windy cold front blew in, with heavy rain. The temperature dropped to 25 degrees and the rain turned to ice!
I never tire of seeing these photos, Jon! (Lawdy, but loathed having to hang tinsel. Someone - you mom? - must have had the patience of a saint!)
ReplyDelete'Don't ever recall believing in Santa Claus. Not that my parents were realists, exactly ... but they wanted me to know that book (for instance) came from Uncle Lu or Auntie Bert, etc.-etc. (Yes, when I grew old enough I was expected to sit down the next day - Christmas - and write thank-you notes.)
Santa Claus' gifting (wink!-wink!) was limited to the red plastic stocking's contents on Christmas morning.
You're right, Myra - my Mom was the one who did the tinsel. And I used to "help" her. I remember that tinsel came in small boxes back then.
DeleteI also remember those red plastic Xmas stockings. In fact, it reminds me of a stocking story - which I'll tell in another post (if I don't forget).
You were a cute kid but I wonder what was going through your head in that one you call cranky. Love your header picture, so pretty and peaceful.
ReplyDeleteI'm always cranky in the morning, Paula - even as a kid! I love those red accents in the header picture!
DeleteJon, thanks for bringing up this clip. I recall my 4th Christmas, asking my mother how Santa could get down our 8-inch woodstove stack and she said,"because he's a spirit". I have always believed that. In ensuing years I learned St. Nicholas was probably a Turk who was very devout, kind and generous. He was well-to-do and pretended to no vow of poverty except to use his mainly inherited money to provide gifts for those families in need. So I celebrate Santy no matter what Pastor Whoosit says. If one guy can impel the parents of over 2 millennia to thrill their kids with pleasant surprises, that's evidence of a spirit at work.
ReplyDeleteIt's the spirit that counts, Geo - and the spirit is what's incredibly potent. I remember asking my parents how Santa got inside, too (we didn't have a fireplace at that time). They told me that they'd leave the front door unlocked! Thank God we didn't get robbed....
DeleteI was terrified of Santa & my dad had a Santa come to our house I was so scared I screamed & hid under my bed & wet my pants
ReplyDeleteWhen my mom pulled me out from under the bed a got a hard spanking for wetting myself.
I apologize for laughing, but that is hysterically funny! I was afraid of my own shadow as a kid - - so it's really surprising that I was never scared of Santa.
DeleteJon,
ReplyDeleteI feel as you do about Christmas. I like the many colored lights, festive ambiance and food. I don't like the commercialization and "Ho!Ho!" Of all the many photos I have no one in my family ever thought to take a photo of me and my brothers with our Christmas trees. It's a shame because I remember those scenes clearly in my mind. And I never sat on Santa's lap like SOME (smile) lucky kids.
Ron
It's a shame that no photos were taken of you and your brothers by the Xmas tree. What I definitely hate the most about Christmas is the relentless commercialization. It ruins the essence of the season.
DeleteUnfortunately, when I was a kid, I never got a thrill from sitting on anyone's lap.....(*smile*)
Jon, Your old Xmas tree photos look like the one my folks took when I was one or two. I think I found out about the Santa myth a little later in life. Unlike Ron I sat in Santa's lap to spill the beans to him what I wanted for Xmas, with my Mom with in ear shot taking notes of course. But in my 20s I did have the trill of having a hunk in his tighty whities sit in my lap. Too bad he was straight, he was just messing with me. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the memories, Randy. It's been a long time since anyone sat in my lap - - except my cats!
ReplyDelete