Usually, Santa Claus shuts down his "Naughty and Nice" lists after Dec. 25, but one toddler tried to get an early start for 2011.
A 4-year-old Florida boy called 911 to report that his dad was "being bad" and that he needed to get that urgent message to Santa. Now that might not seem like a proper use of 911 to you, but to a toddler, there is no bigger emergency than a parent who is being mean.
"Send a message to Santa that will say that dad is being bad. My dad's been very bad, he really did," the boy said confidently, according to a recording of the Jan. 2 emergency call.
The Niceville operator on the other end was clearly taken aback but played along with the child to make sure nothing was really wrong.
"Send the message all the way to Santa," the boy repeated.
"You want me to write a message to Santa?" the operator asked. "OK, what's your name? How old are you?"
The child told her he had just turned 4 but didn't want the operator to get distracted from the mission.
The operator asked what the boy's dad did that was so bad that Santa had to be notified 11 months before the next Christmas arrived.
She didn't get a straight answer, but the child was almost spot-on about what the proper punishment should be.
"When you're bad you get a big rock and you have to put it under your house," the kid explained.
Usually Santa deals in lumps of coal, but maybe Dad really deserved a rock.
The operator dispatched a police officer to the house to make sure nothing criminal was going on and it turns out the little guy was just mad at his dad. No one was arrested, but no word on if Santa will be getting a letter in the mail.
If we were Dad, we'd keep the kid away from a phone or a stamp book.
