Eat Poppa, Eat! Nobody Likes a Skinny Santa!
I assume you’ve all seen that some folks have decided that Santa is too fat. He should provide a better example to children, they say, by exercising and eating more fruits and veggies, fewer cookies and cheese sandwiches. (Maya tells me she learned that in Europe, kids leave cheese sandwiches for Santa, rather than cookies and milk…I have no idea if this is true or if someone pulled her leg.)
Then I read on my mom’s blog that there’s a group called “Keep Santa Fat“, and you can go to their website, sign a petition to keep Santa from going on Atkins (watch out, Rudolph!), and a pound of food is donated to America’s Second Harvest, to feed the hungry.
I went, and I signed the petition, though I’m not sure what good it will do since those who want Santa thinner are a broad group of paranoid people who think that there’s no way a child can see a fat man and not want to go gorge on 3 bags of cookies and an entire pie, for God’s sake. Maya and I talked briefly about this, and we agreed that it’s totally stupid. Why would accepting and loving a fat fictional character be setting a bad example for our children? I think we’ve gone too far in our fear of obesity and its effects, when the idea of our child accepting someone who is fat is frightening to us. I mean, you don’t WANT your child to be unaccepting of others, based on their size, do you? If it is indeed true that more and more people are fat now than 20 years ago, do you want to teach your children to loathe them? I know I don’t.
So I quote Mrs. Claus when I say, “Eat Poppa, Eat. Nobody likes a skinny Santa. You’ll disappoint the children!” (From Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I tried my best to find the actual clip of this scene on YouTube, but no luck. But gosh, there’s even a toy of the scene, which I found on eBay, which is where I found this photo.)
16 Comments
Beenzzz
WTF is wrong with people? They think a fat santa sends bad messages to children? Has everyone been smoking weed? I only ask this because the level of paranoia in this country that quadrupled in the last seven-eight years. Geez, I wonder why….
I like santa the way he is.
josey
i completely agree with you!! i definitely think we have gone way too far in our paranoia with what our children are exposed to!! another classic example–now cookie monster eats apples!?!?! WHAT!!?! guh!! it makes me irate. LOL.
if parents would step up to the plate and be the example THEY should be to their children, then i dont think any of the rest of this would be such a problem. i think parents should be more worried of the example the twiggies of hollywood set for our children–the girls never being thin enough and the boys thinking that’s ideal. its all so screwed up!!!
thanks for posting this. i’m gonna sign the petition!
lalunas
Santa has been around for generations never changing. It has not affected any of the children from past generations in any negative way, so why are the kids of this current generation so different.
Autumn's Mom
I’m with Beenzzz, everyone is on weed. Somethings just need to be off limits from the crazy, pc, skinny loving public.
ML
Good God, man! I think people have too much time on their hands.
J
ML, I know, if these people had REAL problems, they could leave the rest of us alone.
Beenzzz and Autumn’s Mom, If they were smoking weed, they’d think it was cool that he was fat, and wonder where he got the brownies. 😉 Must be speed or some drug that makes you all nervous.
Laluna, I thought the same thing. Why would this generation suddenly be affected by Santa’s girth, when no generation before has been? Do you think maybe that’s the problem? That the first really big Santa was during the depression, and people liked him so much that we all started getting fat? Maybe? No, me neither.
Josey, I agree completely. Be a good example to your child. Give them love and discipline, and teach them to be compassionate to others. Don’t worry about whether Santa is fat, or what movie stars do with their spare time, because a good example at home is the most important thing you can pass on to your child. Idiots.
Cherry
I’m sorry, I know my thoughts are completely not on topic of your post, but I cannot stop thinking about having a cheese sandwhich now! I don’t think I’ve craved a cheese sandwich since I was a kid.
Cheese and Mayo Sandwich… Mmmmmmm!
Maya's Granny
And, God forbid kids accept a fat Santa, that might lead to them accepting fat people! They might love their grandparents and not hound fat children on the playground. Can’t have that.
Curiositykiller
They don’t call him Santa baby for nuthing… I love him huggable.
Michelle at Scribbit
Just reading the title cracked me up–I remember that one!
Py Korry
How many kids look at Santa (as depicted by Rankin and Bass) and say “Hey, I wanna be just like that puppet?”
hellomelissa
oh, and that damn project runway perpetuating the myth that fat people are jolly by “casting” chris march! the shame…
Susan Helene Gottfried
It’s all driven by that F-word, of course (fear, in this case).
Too bad these uptight people are forgetting that it takes ALL kinds to rock the world. That means fat Santas, too.
amuirin
There was a study out earlier this year along these lines, where some sort of vague research concluded people with fat friends were more likely to be fat.
There’s so many ways to tilt that data, so many variables. It made me angry that they’d spend valuable research money conducting a study that could only hope to make people less tolerant and more paranoid.
Crazy.
Glinda
Santa needs that pot belly! If I see one that doesn’t have it, it just isn’t the same and I feel cheated.
C
This is such a great post, J. I totally agree with you. Oh, and it’s wonderful that you and Maya have these kinds of conversations 🙂 She sounds like she will become a very well-adjusted, open, kind, understanding, accepting young adult.