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Father Christmas in the time of Covid

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    #51
    We sold G-Boy the Santa story halfheartedly, giving us enough plausible deniability to deploy once he figured out that it was all a game. That served us well, and he played along with it as he got older as a nod-and-wink in-joke. It's a policy that served us well.

    A friend tells the story of the Easter when his oldest threatened to spoil the Easter egg hunt in the garden by unforming his younger siblings that the Easter bunny doesn't exist. A great long story cut short, just as friend was going to threaten oldest son with the wrath of God, along comes hop-hop-hopping a bunny in the garden. Turned out, the rabbit had escaped from a neighbour's garden, but apparently the oldest son, now in his fifties, still phones every Easter to profess his belief in the Easter bunny.

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      #52
      Anything too big for a stocking goes under the tree downstairs. Stocking goes at the foot end of the bed which is about six feet from t'other end, so Father Bloopy can operate pretty much within the guidelines.

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        #53
        Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post

        The dairy lobby is incredibly strong
        Even the strongest can be broken. </niche joke>

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          #54
          Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
          I was shocked when I learned that American santa drank milk. Temperance Puritans man
          Well, one shouldn’t drink and sled.

          It’s a handout to the dairy industry. They get a lot of those in this country.

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            #55
            First Xmas memory (see also threads passim)

            1967 aged 5. Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. Just like the NT except for the shepherds. They were all in a barn somewhere as it was freezing. Places in the Church taken by tooled up Israeli soldiers

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              #56
              As a child, the best thing about the buildup to Christmas was asking my mother awkward questions about Father Christmas and watching her trying to make shit up on the spot. I wouldn't want to deny a child the joy of outwitting an adult.

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                #57
                In comics writer Grant Morrison's memoir Supergods, at one point he suggests that children are naturally better suited to reading superhero comics than adults. IIRC, his point is along the lines that adults are more inclined to be troubled by whether something is possible and feel compelled to try to extrapolate rational explanations based upon our current knowledge and technologies, whereas kids are more likely to just go with the flow, recognising that it is fanciful but not unduly bothered by that. If so, asking questions about Father Christmas becomes a game, as ooh aah says; children know that he is a fantastical figure but enjoy putting their parents on the spot to come up with plausible accounts of how he might manage to get the job done.
                Last edited by Benjm; 19-10-2020, 07:52.

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                  #58
                  My late uncle (paternal side) used to tell me and my brother lurid tales of the monster that lurked in my grandparents' cellar. I can't remember if I believed him or not but I enjoyed the ceremony of it all.

                  I wish I could remember the monster's name as I would like to inflict it on my kids before it's too late, as per the Nanny Ogg doctrine.

                  Nanny Ogg never used her washhouse, since all her washing was done by the daughters-in-law, a tribe of grey-faced, subdued women whose names she never bothered to remember. It had become, therefore, a storage place for dried-up old bulbs, burnt-out cauldrons and fermenting jars of wasp jam. No fire had been lit under the copper for ten years. Its bricks were crumbling, and rare ferns grew around the firebox. The water under the lid was inky black and, according to rumour, bottomless; the Ogg grandchildren were encouraged to believe that monsters from the dawn of time dwelt in its depths, since Nanny believed that a bit of thrilling and pointless terror was an essential ingredient of the magic of childhood.
                  In the summer she used it as a beer cooler.

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                    #59
                    Originally posted by Benjm View Post
                    adults are more inclined to be troubled by whether something is possible and feel compelled to try to extrapolate rational explanations based upon our current knowledge and technologies, whereas kids are more likely to just go with the flow, recognising that it is fanciful but not unduly bothered
                    I was listening recently to two fellow Agatha Christie fans dissing one of her plots in which a character marries her second husband never realising that he's her first in disguise. Which kind of misses the point that Midsomer Murders while a fussy Belgian dude visits on holiday aren't that plausible generally.

                    Christie is the all time bestselling author of crime fiction

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                      #60
                      Originally posted by Duncan Gardner View Post

                      I was listening recently to two fellow Agatha Christie fans dissing one of her plots in which a character marries her second husband never realising that he's her first in disguise. Which kind of misses the point that Midsomer Murders while a fussy Belgian dude visits on holiday aren't that plausible generally.

                      Christie is the all time bestselling author of crime fiction
                      When I joined a new school when I was 11, before I had made a proper group of friends, I found that the library was open at lunchtime. There was a seam of Agatha Christie novels and a seam of Terry Pratchett books, and I ploughed my way through them, alternating AC and TP. I never got any better at guessing who the murderer was in the Agatha Christie ones, which was a big part of the enjoyment.

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                        #61
                        Indeed.Double jepardised friends of the narrator are a good bet

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                          #62
                          I read one of her books where the narrator was the murderer. It was only revealed at the end and seemed rather silly.

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                            #63
                            Originally posted by Duncan Gardner View Post
                            Indeed.Double jepardised friends of the narrator are a good bet
                            In Murder, She Wrote, if you backed quiet brunette secretary/P.A. in every episode, you would show a decent profit across the series.

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                              #64
                              In Midsomer Murders, the richest character is normally the criminal.

                              A rare example of the programme being realistic.

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                                #65
                                I think our 9 year old has largely got Agatha Christie sussed. Watching an old Poirot DVD with us over dinner last night, she offered the insight "He survived that poisoning, so it was probably fake."

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                                  #66
                                  Anyway, back on topic, add me to the list of those who had never heard of Elf on the Shelf before reading this thread. Sounds ghastly. My wife would never have accepted it as the whole "reward/sanction" ethos goes totally against her approach to our relationship with our daughter. She's nearly 10 so would be too old for it now anyway.

                                  I don't recall ever believing in Santa Claus as a real thing. Maybe my parents never spun it that way to us, or maybe it's linked to my memory of thinking that it was ridiculous that he was supposed to get into a chimney from above when the tops of chimneys have only those narrow openings. My wife ran the yarn with our daughter and I kind of stayed out of it.

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                                    #67
                                    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                    I read one of her books where the narrator was the murderer. It was only revealed at the end and seemed rather silly.
                                    That's a great novel.

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                                      #68
                                      My son (6 and a half) still believes in Santa, although quite what he thinks Santa gets up to might be somewhat skewed by The Jolly Fat Man's portrayal in Teen Titans Go!

                                      I had to threaten his sister with serious sanctions to stop her blurting out the truth in a jealous rage the other night. No one crushes my son's dreams but me! And maybe his mother.

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