Dispatches from the Checkout Lines

Apparently unaware that children have ears, during a bit of banter with his co-anchor, Robin Robinson, anchor of the Fox affiliate in Chicago dropped the bombshell that there is no Santa. “Stop trying to convince your kids that Santa is Santa," he said. "There is no Santa.” Robinson later apologized for his remarks.

At least it was just a gaffe by a news person, and everybody knows you can't believe what they say. It isn't as though it was said by a person of real authority and credibility. Oh wait...

During a unit on geography, a second grade teacher at George W. Miller Elementary School in Namuet, N.Y., told a group of seven-year-olds that there is no Santa. Parents were infuriated, the Daily Mail reports.

One of this year's big items on Black Friday: guns. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System had a record number of requests on Black Friday--129,166--a third greater than the previous record set in 2008, ABC News reports.

Thieves stole $15,000 worth of lights that line the platform for the Singing Christmas Tree--a 49-year holiday tradition in Portland, Ore., station KGW reports.

The president of the American Veterinarian Medical Association returned from examining Santa's reindeer at the North Pole. Rene Carlson reported that the reindeer are heathy and in good shape, and even signed a certificate of animal export.