"When I was first ordained, an older priest gave me three commandments for a successful ministry: one, try not to upset the flower ladies; two, don't preach pacifism on Remembrance Sunday; and, three and most important never tell children that Santa isn't real. If only someone had had that talk with RevDr Paul Chamberlain, who last Christmas reduced a classroom full of year 6 children to tears by telling them the truth: It's your mum and dad."
"In my son's case, it was his evil twin sister who burst the bubble. They were only nine but she had some older friends, one of whom had given the game away to her although she wasn't bothered because she liked the idea of knowing something that her brother didn't. So she came home and told him that if they searched the house, they'd probably find everything they'd asked for in their letters to Santa stashed in a cupboard somewhere which they did."
An older priest advised three commandments for ministry: don't upset the flower ladies, avoid preaching pacifism on Remembrance Sunday, and never tell children Santa isn't real. RevDr Paul Chamberlain told a year 6 class that Santa was their parents, reduced children to tears, and apologised, saying he assumed they already knew. A personal anecdote recounts a nine-year-old whose sister revealed that presents were hidden in a cupboard, prompting a distraught child to feel betrayed by parents, teachers and television. Some Christians view the Santa myth as a form of lying under the ninth commandment, while others defend the harmlessness of childhood magic.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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