A pause with Mr. Claus

   On Saturday my daughter had her first real experience with Santa. As we shopped our favorite vegetable market, we heard him before we saw him. A booming Jersey accent filled the open-air store ... and then I saw him.

  Toting my toddler as mom searched for the best tomatoes, I tiptoed toward the fat man, gradually bringing my daughter's vision closer to the mythical creature.

  Initially shy, she clung to me even as Mr. Claus' friendly paws reached for the child to bring her closer. Sensing her fear the rotund dude whipped out a small stuffed goose and offered it to the child and thus the ice was thus broken. Even though the strange man had a funny white beard, at least he had some cool toys.

   One of her first observations was, of course (being a girl), the boots.

   After the brief visit the family finished the shop and it was time to go.

   Now, it seemed in a matter of minutes she comprehended and even embraced the Santa concept. As we strapped her into her car-seat she starts calling out to the fat man: "Santa I'm over here," "Santa I'm in here."

   So at the ripe young age of 31 months, she now knows Santa and it gives me pause: What other fairy tales are we going to subject her to? Santa is pretty much inevitable in Christian Civilization, but how much of the Barbie/Princess Crap does she really need to be subjected to? And what will be her equivalent of Miley Cyrus when she gets older?

Maker of toy hamster bites back

   Apparently an over-eager, do-gooder consumer action group (GoodGuide) has raised the fur of its maker and generated safety endorsement from both sides of the pond today.

   GoodGuide claims that Zhu Zhu Pets (U.S.) or Go Go Hamsters (U.K.) contained an unhealthy "presence of a potentially harmful heavy metal" in the wildly popular robotic hamsters known as Mr. Squiggles. The "watchdog" (I guess they could be a "watchhamster") group indicated "excessive levels of antimony on the toy's hair and nose" in their tests.

  However, both the Consumer Product Safety Commission and its United Kingdom counterpart have deemed the made-in-China toy to be safe.

   Toymaker Cepia vehemently defended its cranked-up creature, saying the rodent had passed "the most rigorous testing in the toy industry" and that all the Zhu Zhu Pets are "100% safe and in compliance with all U.S. and European toy safety standards."

   GoodGuide stated that antimony is linked to cancer, reproductive health and other human health hazards, if ingested in high enough levels. {I'm not sure if 'high enough levels' means grinding up Mr. Squiggles and sprinkling him on your cereal.}

   My guess? If the toy is popular, people are going to buy it.

   Aside from Mr. Squiggles, there are three other models in the Zhu Zhu rodent stable: Chunk, Num Nums and Pipsqueak.

Did Toys "R" Us charge you twice?

  It appears Toys "R" Us has found a way to add to their profit margin by charging customers double on their recent credit or debit card purchases.

   Ouch!

   As if Toys "R" Us needed anymore reason to avoid the overpriced, underachieving chain. Just because you're big doesn't mean you're good.

   I mean, can you really trust a corporation (Chase) that — during checkout — is more interested in getting your phone number, email address and pushing their outrageously expensive credit cards on you than it is in charging you the correct ammount for your purchases?

  Of course, Toys "R" Us Manager of Corporate Communications Jennifer Albano claimed: "A systems issue occurred in some of our stores early on Black Friday. This resulted in some customers incurring double charges on their credit cards. The situation did not occur in all of our stores nationwide ..."

   Well, that's a relief.

  Think you've been a victim of this egregious error: Check your Toys "R" Us recent (not just Nov. 27) receipts. If you don't have online access to your bank, I would call my bank or credit card company to find out if you have been double-charged.

   Naturally it took complaints from customers to alert Toys "R" Us of their gaffe (or attempted theft) — the company didn't know of the problem. Why would they?

  Now, even though bilked customers are fighting to get the overcharges cleared, some have run into overdraft fees that banks, evidently, are loathe to waive.

   I know Toys "R" Us is in a big Christmas price war with Wal-Mart, but gouging customers to pad profits seems a bit extreme.

   Did Toys R Us charge you twice? If you think so, call Guest Services at 1-800-869-7787, or 1-800-Toysrus.

What's wrong with Pele?

   Well, now that it's December, I'm remembering one of my favorite stories from last Christmas season.

  A Peruvian woman called Virgen Maria — who is married to a carpenter — named her son Jesus Emanuel after giving birth on Christmas Day in 2008.

  Virgen Maria Huarcaya Palomino, 21, had not been due to give birth on that date, but went into labor early and then delivered by Caesarean.

  Hubby Adolfo Jorge Huaman, who shares the same profession as Saint Joseph, was quoted as saying the couple had planned to name their son after a football player. (Maybe that was just his idea)

   So, instead of Renaldo or Pele or Gianluigi or Thierry, the witless pair condemned the helpless infant to a life of ridicule and torment by being asked to walk on water, or whip up some comestibles in a jiffy or save humankind (... for God's sake).

  They better make sure they keep the firearms and sharp objects away from this little one, I don't think he's going to be too thrilled with that albatross of a moniker.