I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
I’ve heard this song for years and it just dawned on me that “Santa Claus” might be the dad.
Opinions, Dad or Cheating Mom?
Definitely Dad.
It’s always been obvious to me that it was the kid’s dad.
There seems to be no confusion on the issue regarding the New Yorker cover that ultimately inspired the song.
If there’s any cheating involved, it’s in letting the child believe it’s really Santa rather than Dad
Even as a kid – albeit one who no longer believed in Santa Claus – I never thought anything but some kid shocked when he saw his parents smooching. I have no recollection of thinking about the song when I was still a Believer.
This is one of my favorite Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers.
As far as I can remember I’ve gotten the gist of it but one thing that always struck me as little odd is “what a laugh it would have been if daddy had walked in and seen mommy kissing Santa Claus”. I know it’s just fun and portrays a child’s innocence but when I picture a man walking in and seeing his wife kissing a dude in a santa suit, my mind goes to a much darker place :dubious:
Also, if you listen to John Mellancamp’s version of the song it sounds like he’s singing “Then I saw mama tinkle on Santa Claus . . .”
The entire song is a Rorschach test for the darkness of your soul. If your mind goes to the “cheating wife” idea, it shows the depravity you carry deep within you. If you assume it was the Dad, it shows that you are a wholesome, loving person.
Just kidding. It is clearly the Dad.
So, I guess I’m the last to know again. Sigh. If anyone needs me I’ll be over here in the corner with my dark soul.
In my defense, I’m most familiar with Mellancamp’s version which makes it sound a little risqué.
Ummm, that aint Santa’s leg!
I’ve never heard Mellancamp’s version. I never heard it at all until I knew Santa was my parents. I thought for a short time mom was kissing another guy the very first time I heard it, and then realized it was a joke, and she was kissing dad.
Try Kip Addotta’s version, “I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus.” Poor quality performance, but a clever twist.
I know, right!? I guess “I saw mommy giving Santa a handy” doesn’t really have the right meter.
Actually, there was.
I’ve figured it was the dad all along too. But I wrote a final verse, to be sung by the young Jackson 5, on the assumption that Mommy was actually cheating on daddy:
“Then I saw daddy murder Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night
Oh that was some ol’ Christmas Day
When daddy got taken away
For stabbing Santa Claus that night.”
That bit you quoted is about the song, and not the New Yorker cover…
Then there was Buck Owens:
I don’t care for the Jackson 5’s Christmas music output as a general rule, but sometimes I am overcome by an exquisite languor (I get lazy), and changing the station is just too much trouble. This is why it has been my misfortune to occasionally sit through their version of this song.
Knowing the rumors I have heard concerning Jackson père’s temperament, something like the above verse is always in my mind when I that one comes on…
So I guess I’m the only one who loves to watch the Christmas T.V. movie of the song, in which Connie Sellecca is Mommy, and Corbin Bernsen is Daddy/Santa Claus. It’s mostly a slapstick story, in which the kid spends his time setting all sorts of traps for the local Santa because he thinks Santa is trying to steal his Mom.