I must admit I have threatened my cherubs with the “No Santa Claus for little kids who can’t behave” line, but thankfully I’ve never had to actually follow through on it. The Chronicle has the story of a Pasadena father who is following through:
There’s not much laughter today at the home of a Pasadena information technology specialist who has decided to auction off his sons’ Christmas presents — and possibly dismantle the family tree — because the youngsters, ages 9, 11 and 15, have been naughty, not nice.
“One thing we teach around this house,” said the man, who asked that his name not be revealed, “is that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.”
In a Christmas context, bad people get switches or lumps of coal — or lose the presents they want the most.
“BAD CHILDREN get no Nintendo DS. Santa will skip our house this year,” the man announced in his eBay posting to sell three DS systems with PictoChat and Metroid. Also offered were three games for use with the system. “No kidding. Three undeserving boys have crossed the line. Tonight we sat down and showed them what they WILL NOT get for Christmas this year. I’ll be taking the tree down tomorrow.”
Wow!
Now I am going to wave this story in front of my precious children and I expect an exceptionally well-behaved Christmas Eve.
