Sir, - When we were children, Father Christmas filled a stocking (my father's largest wellie sock) with small treats and surprises which were discovered on the end of the bed when we woke on Christmas morning.
My parents shelled out (and got grateful recognition) for the main present. We appreciated, from an early age, that they gave us what they could afford. Sometimes we were lucky, but in the years when their coffers were not overflowing we learnt to be content with something smaller.
Why is Santa Claus now expected to fill children's "stockings" with hugely expensive items that are advertised with manic pressure in the weeks leading up to Christmas? The less well-off are forced to borrow from moneylenders or see their children aching with confused disappointment because Santa didn't come up with the goods.
I'm not anti-Santy, but let's put him back where he belongs as a benevolent donor of small Christmas treats and dispel the concept of his having a bottomless sack bulging with PCs and designer labels.
It may sound harsh, but in an unfair and unequal world I think it is up to us, as parents, to teach our children about being realistic and explain what is, or isn't, affordable. It might help to stall the self-indulgence of a "must have" society and, most importantly, it would let poor old Santa carry a lighter sack. - Yours, etc., Juliet Berridge,
Carrigbyrne House,
Adamstown,
Co Wexford.