Barry: Stealing from Santa has got to be a sin!

Dec 24 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SPEAKING of Christmas, I see that Santa has been a very naughty boy in Norfolk.

At the weekend a group of men dressed as Father Christmas were involved in a brawl in Norwich city centre.

That’s not what you want to see from Santa. If you’re going to dress up as Father Christmas, people have a right to expect jolliness rather than violence from you.

And equally, if you’re in a Santa costume, you deserve to be treated with a bit of respect, rather than punched in the face.

I should know, I dressed up as Santa at a Christmas party six years ago. The queue for the bar at this do was three deep, and not even the glimpse of my red hat and white beard could win me any preferential treatment.

So I stood there for 40 minutes waiting to be served. When I got back to my table, I put down my precious pint and turned around for a second.

By the time I turned back, my beer had gone, no doubt stolen by someone who didn’t fancy a 40-minute wait at the bar.

Now, as previously mentioned, I’m not a religious man.

But anyone who nicks Santa’s pint has got to be going straight to hell.