Yeah, Amos. That's right. I figured out pretty early as a small child that the Santa thing couldn't possibly be true, but most of my friends still believed it. So...I went to ask my mother about it. She explained that, no, it wasn't actually literally true, but it was a nice thing like a fairy story, made up so that kids could have more fun at Christmas. I was quite satisfied with that explanation, which did make sense, and I left my friends to believe as they chose about it.

It's as you say, a half-barbaric and half-mad world, but you can get through fine if you have a good sense of humour about it.

- LH