eTreasures Twelve Days Blog #2: Should We Be Scared at Christmas??

Who doesn’t like to be scared at Christmas, and I don’t just mean by your neighbor’s crazy, seizure-inducing light display? I can hear you saying that this is a ridiculous question, but is it? Seriously, stop saying it’s silly and go with me for a few minutes.

Think about the myth of Santa Claus. Santa is a large, robust man who dresses in bright red and has never owned a razor in his life. He lives inside the Arctic Circle . . . by choice. Who lives with him? A few hundred elves that spend 364 days a year producing merchandise for the fat man to give away. “Ok,” you’re saying now, “this is strange, but not scary.”

What does Santa do with all his high-end electronics, toys and socks the elves make? He delivers them to every person in the world, all in about 12 hours, or the time it takes to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. “Fine,” you’re mumbling now, “that part of the story is a little hard to believe but it’s still not scary.”

[image by Olaf] 

Santa doesn’t give presents to bad people, does he? But how does he know whose been bad or good?

He watches you.

“He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good . . .”

[Treasure chest #2] 

[image Courtesy of chowmeyow/Flickr]

A man who has been alive for 17 centuries, who lives away from civilization, who works only at night and has the best surveillance equipment money can buy. And who do we tell this legend to? Our children. We tell it to them over and over until they believe with the faith only a child possesses, and the piece de resistance? A few years later we tell them we made the whole thing up.

Who doesn’t like to be scared at Christmas? You can fulfill your desire for goose bumps and creatures of the night by reading my collection of short horror stories:

The Spaces Between Your Screams.

Author Christopher Hivner

eTreasures is offering a print copy of The Spaces Between Your Screams to a commenter on this post.
Print copy to US and Canada only; eBook copy for international comment winner.
Giveaway ends December 17, 2011 at 10pm.