Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for December 01, 2010

Petey’s correct, as usual.

A big floaty eye, looking for it’s one ring… Oops! That’s Sauron not Santa. Silly me!

Actually, it’s a bunch of spy satellites, but the principle is the same …

He has an insidious network of highly-trained spies, called variously Santa’s Helpers, Santa’s Elves, charity Bell Ringers, Carolers, and (scariest of all) Holiday Parade Marching Bands! They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere!

Elf on a shelf!

Alice seems determined to beat the system.

No, Santa is pretty clearly Sauron.

Ugh, I hate the Christmas good-behavior threats. I can’t see them working or envision a parent who would actually refuse to give gifts. Furthermore, since almost all parents go way overboard at Christmas, many children would never notice a reduction on account of bad behavior.

no, it’s a vast network of informants and satellite surveillance

I like the Sauron theory.

Santa is more than a big eye. He has the power of occupying any body.Hence his spies are limitless!

The whole Santa-spying problem has gotten much worse since the signing into law of the Patriot Act…

Unfortunately BrianCook, there are parents that do just that, withhold goods & services from their children based on their definition of good behaviour.

Also, there are parents (more than media would lead us to believe) who don’t go overboard at Christmas, or their idea of overboard would still seem conservative.

My theory is the Elf on the Shelf. (we got one for our grandson and he loves looking for it. He named him Licorice)

Sauron Claws is coming to your town!

I am sorry to read of the parents in the former group, Segullah, and glad to read of those in the latter.

Christmas–far from my favorite holiday–should be simply a time of giving & celebration, whether it is of the birth of Jesus or the coming of winter, where we need, most importantly, to practice kindness, or love itself.

There should be no measuring or punishing.

Santa: parental blackmail.

…except for the Southern Hemisphere, of course.

The southern hemisphere is not exempt. I once worked with a Peruvian woman who told me that everything they did back home for Christmas made little sense until she spent a winter Deember in the northern US. Most of the Christian southern hemisphere has imported Xmas from the US.

remember the old santa satan thing both wear red, see all, etc

@John Reiher, Jr: My mind went to LOTR too, but I was thinking of the sea eggs…

i like the sauron theory

I gotta agree with JohnnyDiego, I always thought God was Santa for adults