Is Santa Too Fat?

It is Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus has begun the arduous journey around the globe to deliver presents to all the good girls and boys. Once again the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is tracking Santa's progress at the Official NORAD Santa Tracker.

So, Santa has a busy day ahead of him.  I know how tired I feel after flying a few hours in an airplane.  I can't imagine how tired Santa will be from driving his sleigh for 24 hours straight.  For myself, I probably would feel better after my flights if I were in better shape and more than a few pounds lighter.  Santa is a bit more corpulent than I am, and would probably benefit from losing some tonnage.

But would we want him to?  I was driving into work this morning and listening to Grandy and Andy on the radio.  They were discussing a recent story about a group called Santa America who is trying to encourage their members to lose weight and embrace fitness.  With the obesity epidemic in thsi country, they want Santa to be a good example for children.  The president of the organization states that his goal is to reduce the size of Santa Claus by 25%.  They even want those Santas that are in shape but wear padding to give the appearance of a rotund Santa to stop wearing the fake fat. 

For those not familiar with Grandy and Andy in the DC radio market on WMAL630, Grandy is Fred Grandy, former GOP Congressman from Iowa, a vegan, and actor best known for playing Gopher on The Love Boat.  Andy is Andy Parks, a 50-something, conservative who could probably fill out a Santa suit without the need for padding.  Parks' take is that it is just another case of political correctness gone too far, while Grandy (the vegan) thinks it's a good idea.

Callers into the show were kind of a mixed bag.  There were a few folks calling in that pointed out that the original St. Nicholas has traditionally been depicted as a tall, slender man with a long coat.  Other callers agreed whole heartedly with Parks, some even stating that they felt it was just another example of the constant attacks against our traditions.

I do not want to disparage the work of the group Santa America.  They do a lot of good things.  Nor do I want to minimize the problem of obesity.  However, I tend to come down on the side of wanting to see a belly on Santa, even if it is fake.  I will probably have to leave out a couple extra cookies for Santa tonight, and maybe an extra large glass of egg nog.