# Santa has changed over the centuries. What change is next? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434 "2006-12-16T22:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/21 "2006-12-18T18:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Santa will be whatever Hallmark decides it will be. [/QUOTE] Dude(tte), if you’re looking to pin prevailing portrayals of Santa on a corporation, I suggest you shift your gaze over to the [Coca-Cola Company](http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_santa.html) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/22 "2006-12-18T18:28:55Z")
Well, I won’t be surprised if soon there is a Santa and a Mr. Claus living at the north pole. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/23 "2006-12-18T18:34:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The red suit is gone. Red is too aggressive a color given the level of violence in society. Santa should never be wearing the red suit except one night each year when he’s running his deliveries. At all other times he should be wearing overalls. One of the most convincing mall Santas I ever saw dressed like this, with his red suit hanging up (but in view) inside the little house behind him. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/24 "2006-12-18T19:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=ArrMatey!] Being somewhat out of the santa-loop, as it were, I’m wondering; what -is- the standard story these days for folks without chimneys? Santa just breaks in through a window? Front door? (mini-rant: Because it’s more important for the kids to think it’s a mythological entity that loves them and gives them gifts instead of, I dunno, their parents / guardians…) [/QUOTE] I made the mistake of asking my family about this yesterday with the children present. Everyone froze and widened their eyes at me, even though I had couched my question in very kid-friendly terms. My sister hurriedly explained that Santa lays his finger beside his nose and afterwards can squeeze through any hole, including vent pipes and keyholes. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/25 "2006-12-18T19:39:14Z")
Santa…with Intel Inside! [http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/9/9780060509439.jpg](http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/9/9780060509439.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/26 "2006-12-18T19:39:14Z")
[Here’s](http://www.fido.ca/portal/promos/personal/refer/en/promotion.jsp) a picture of how Santa & Mrs. Clause look in the Fido universe. I wouldn’t be surprised if the image of the Clauses goes this route. FYI, Fido is a cellular service in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/27 "2006-12-18T20:20:59Z")
It wouldn’t surprise me to see mall Santas no longer being allowed to have children sit on their laps; citing liability issues with safety and good-touches/bad-touches. As far as the image of Santa is concerned, I think he’ll become more in-shape. A fat guy can’t just jump in his sleigh and zip all over the world in one night without getting in shape, first. Poor old guy’s gonna have a big M.I. one night while trying to get back up a chimney. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/28 "2006-12-18T21:27:46Z")
then there was the imposition of the “n” to the middle of his name from the terminus. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/29 "2006-12-18T21:43:57Z")
It will definitely be an in-shape, younger, sexier Santa. No milk and cookies; we must fight childhood obesity! He will eat carrots or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/30 "2006-12-19T00:03:43Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] Transporter. [/QUOTE] That’s what they said in _The Night they Saved Christmas_, and I still buy it. They also said that he’s resupplied in flight by orbiting cargo satellites the size of the Capitol dome. Damn, that was my kind of movie… ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/31 "2006-12-19T00:21:43Z")
I say it’s time for some [equality](http://www.dreamstime.com/femalesantaclausno2-image277321)! ---
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/32 "2006-12-19T12:26:33Z")
[Bender.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Santas) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/33 "2006-12-19T12:40:27Z")
Oh, the Baby Jesus and the Three Kings never had any problem getting into the house… The Baby Jesus is God, so He’s already everywhere. In houses with balconies, the Three Kings left their stuff on the balcony. If no balcony was available, the parents (who work for them by the way, and once you get older you start working with them too) leave a window with the panes closed but without passing the bar, so it can be opened just by pushing on it. We never had any truck with no fat foreigners, when I was growing up. The Baby has pretty much been replaced by the fat foreigner; the biggest change the Three Kings have suffered is that, due to immigration from sub-saharian Africa, now the guy playing Baltasar in the parade is often a real black guy and not a whitey in blackface. The first time Osasuna got a black player, he was greeted with “oh by the way: you have to be back from Christmas vacation by the 5th, since you get to be Baltasar in the parade.” Then they had to explain it, since it’s not a tradition back in his home country 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434/34 "2006-12-19T19:11:25Z")
[QUOTE=ArrMatey!] Being somewhat out of the santa-loop, as it were, I’m wondering; what -is- the standard story these days for folks without chimneys? Santa just breaks in through a window? Front door? [/QUOTE] For us, dad took us out for a car ride Christmas Eve to look for Santa’s sleigh tracks in the streets. Eventually we would return to the house, where the tracks led, and there would be the presents under the tree, and visiting grandparents, who said we just missed him. But we were so intent on playing with new toys that we didn’t care about Santa any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santa-has-changed-over-the-centuries-what-change-is-next/384434.md?page=1)