Bad Santa

I am constantly amazed at the amount of Parental Disconnect during the holiday season.

All the live long year, parents scare the hell out of their children by telling the story of–insert scary music here–The Friendly Stranger.

Around roll the holidays, and these same parents have no problem turning their kid over to an elf–all dressed in glorious green–who promptly plops the squirming mass of cheer on the lap of a gigantic bearded man dressed in fur-trimmed crimson.

The kid bellows out a whoop worthy of yelling Fire! in a crowded movie theater and all the parents laugh, looking at each other in that knowing way, isn’t that cute?

Photographs document the onset of early childhood post-traumatic stress disorder and off the lap the kids is swept–sobbing with the holiday spirit–safe, sound back in the arms of the waiting parent, who is ever conscious of the child-stealing riff-raff that hangs out in the mall.

Wow.

<crossposted from Smashed Frog>