If you think trying to explain to your child why there are two Santas on the same city block is hard…
You see, dear, there is a thing called the space-time continuum….
Or,
You’ve never heard of Santa’s twin brother…?
…try explaining why those same two Santas are in a back alley, jabbing red-mittened fists at each other.
That was my job one Christmas Eve many years ago as my daughter and I did a little window gazing in Portland. We’d come to see the lights and shop displays in the hope of starting our own holiday tradition. Instead, we stumbled onto a pair of brawling Santas as we crossed an alleyway in downtown.
“Hey Dad, LOOK!” my daughter exclaimed, pointing her tiny finger at them.
We both froze; her out of confusion, me out of fatherly fear.
This is going to be one of those life-altering parental moments, I thought to myself. My answer could either comfort her in later years, or gradually transform her into a serial killer. Continue reading