“He’s completely wrecked the spirit of Christmas,” she said. “Instead of bringing joy and happiness to those poor little souls, all he does is bring misery and heartache.
“The wonder and awe in children’s eyes when they open the presents he brings, soon disappears when they see what their friends have got. It fosters discontent and jealousy. And when I ask what Christmas actually means to them they say ‘Presents.’ ‘Lots of chocolate.’ ‘It’s about some geezer who died and we remember the day he died.’ ‘Dad gets drunk and Mum cries.’ ‘It means I get a new computer. The one Santa brought me last year isn’t as good as Robin’s, so I want a better one.’
She concluded: “It’s time Santa was jailed for such cruelty, and Christmas scrapped.”
Santa was equally forceful in his own defence: “I agree that the spirit of Christmas – its true meaning – is being lost. But you can’t blame me for that.
“I’m afraid Mankind’s progress through time has become tarnished. The further he goes and the more he gets, the more he wants. Whatever happened to families going to church on Christmas morning, and it was a time for rejoicing because our Saviour had come to Earth on that day two thousand years before?
“If it’s ever possible for Him to come again, the time is now, for Mankind has strayed from the path He showed them. They’ve let grasp and greed cloud their lives and they’ve lost sight of the true road ahead. Most children grow up with no appreciation of values – either material values, or more importantly, spiritual values.
“But remember this: the spirit of Christmas is still there for those who choose to seek it. If you find me not guilty, Christmas will continue to come to the world every year, despite the self-destructive path Mankind is taking. But, if I’m found guilty, can the world itself survive if we no longer celebrate the birth of its saviour? I put it to you, that it cannot.
“The world is what people have made it. And people are what the world has made them.”