Vicar's Father Christmas Talk Leaves 10-Year-Olds in Tears

One indication that the Rev. Paul Chamberlain's chat with English schoolchildren about the unreality of Father Christmas wasn't going well was the gasps from the religious education class. Another would have been the sobbing by the 10- and 11-year-olds. In hindsight, said the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth, Chamberlain accepts that his frankness was an "error of judgment," the BBC reports. Saying she's not sure how the damage can be undone, one mother told the Times: "I don't want him anywhere near my daughter. I hope he never comes into the school again."

"He apologized unreservedly to the school, to the parents and to the children, and the headteacher immediately wrote to all parents to explain this," the diocese said. Chamberlain was talking about the Bible's Nativity story at the Hampshire school when he detoured into comments about the existence of Father Christmas, which included a debate about who eats the cookies left for Santa Claus. One student decided the vicar was mistaken and must have just "lost the plot," her mother said. (More Santa Claus stories.)