Thursday, December 21, 2006

Scared of Santa

Can you remember your first face to face encounter with Santa? There's a good chance that, unlike most kids who were happy to meet Santa and later grew up to be normal people, you were traumatized by the experience and are still mentally and emotionally scarred from "sitting on Santa's lap".

The Scared of Santa Gallery [link via John's Universe] is a celebration of that traumatic moment in the lives of many children when, contrary to their expectations, Santa scared the living shit out of them. A couple of samples:

Aww, now isn't this just a scene right out of a Rockwell painting? A jolly, smiling Santa and three terror-stricken kids doing their damnedest to get the hell outta there.


Occasionally it might happen that a young child is perfectly justified in being a little nervous about Santa. The Santa in this photo is clearly wrong somehow, don't you think? The mother's smile is evidence of a deep-seated pathology no doubt caused in childhood by her own traumatic Santa encounter.

13 comments:

  1. Salamaat,
    OMG you had me laughing out loud!!! (at work!)

    This is hilarious!!!

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  2. Thank God I never believed in Santa, or ever met the guy.

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  3. Hi Maliha! Yeah, some of the pictures in the gallery are classic.

    Jingoistic, thanks for dropping by!

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  4. The second Santa is just a bit too concerned to stay hidden amongst his 'beard', and he would appear to have a weapon pressed against the mother's ribs. Also a somewhat defiant look as he stares the photographer down.
    I can't remember ever thinking 'Santas' were anything other than guys down on their luck and working for peanuts in some store.

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  5. Pierre, yeah, the stereotypical department store "Santa" is not generally from the upper echelons of society!
    I met a "professional" Santa recently at a theme park in Nagasaki. I think he was Dutch, and my 4-year-old daughter fell in love with him. He happened upon us, "off duty", while she was throwing a tantrum. She recognized him as Santa immediately, and within a minute was smiling and chatting with him--in Japanese!! This guy was a professional in the truest sense of the word.

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  6. I never believed in Santa. And while other children loved clowns and Ronald McDonald I was terrified of them when I was young. And I am still terrified of clowns now.

    We all have our own strange phobias.

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  7. Hi Miao, thanks for dropping by.
    Yeah, I guess everyone is afraid of something. Personally, I think clowns are kinda creepy (it's the "masking" or distortion of the face).

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  8. Wonderful Xmas comments.
    Yeah, my first encounter with Santa was a hell, but I grew up into liking him.
    On the other hand, you'll never seen a sculpture of a person at home. It may turn alive at night and strangle me! (uuuuuhhh!)
    Tnx for your comments. I promise to visit your blog regularly.

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  9. Hi Usual Stuff, thanks for visiting and commenting. I'll be very happy if you come back regularly, but please don't feel obligated!

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  10. Santaphobia, that's new to me. Never believed in Santa, but amazing photos you have got there.

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  11. Axel, thanks for visiting and commenting. Looks like you've got some interesting pics on your site as well...

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  12. EXCELLENT link. Happy new year to you and yours...

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  13. Hey John, long time, no see! I also hope the New Year is good to you and your family.

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