It’s been a rough year for Santa already, and he hasn’t even been to work yet.

First, he gets clocked in the face at a parade in Washington, lying unconscious for a block or two until his driver checked on him. Apparently somebody threw something hard at him and hit him in the face. A broken nose, two black eyes and a concussion that might just be cleared up by Christmas Eve if he takes it easy.

Then, just to add insult to injury, he is flying into a children’s party in Rio de Janeiro in a helicopter when somebody opened fire on him. Under a hail of bullets they returned to the airport safely, firmly marking a few names on the “Permanent Naughty” list.

Who can blame him for maybe cursing at a few kids in return?  I mean those ceaseless demands must get a bit old after a while, right?

Still it’s not all gloom for the jolly old fart. Some of us still like Santa. In fact there are some of you out there who rather like him far far too much. Like this woman who allegedly, ah, grabbed Santa by the Blitzens at a mall in Connecticut. She later denied the whole incident, but Santa knows if you’ve been bad or good. Time will tell what list this lady ended up on, I suppose.