NY Daily News December 12, 2002 (Reuters)
Vicar to kids: Santa is Toast
LONDON--A British vicar reduced children to tears and stunned their parents when he said Santa Claus and his reindeer would burn to a crisp while delivering presents at supersonic speed.
Lee Rayfield shattered the illusions of dozens of children at a school service on Tuesday when he joked in his sermon that Santa and his reindeer would burn up flying at 3,000 times the speed of sound.
"There were a lot of children there who still believe in Santa, or did so until last night," Sue Smee, who took her 5- and 9-year old sons to the service, told the Daily Mirror yesterday. "It has left us parents with a lot of explaining to do."
A repentant Rayfield told the Daily Telegraph, "I am mortified and appreciate that I have put some parents in a difficult position with a lot of explaining to do."
"I love Christmas," he added. He had also pointed out to the children that it was logically impossible for one man and his sleigh to deliver 378 million presents in just 31 hours.