Magical realism

Who uses it: English professors, literary critics, and writers
What it means: A literary genre in which apparently impossible things seem quite normal; the classic example is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.
How you can use it: When encountering wonder in your own life, or discussing Santa Claus.

My favorite news item of the week:

Santas Go on Rampage in New Zealand City

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand's largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday.

The rampage, dubbed ``Santarchy'' by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.

She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.

One man climbed the mooring line of a cruise ship before being ordered down by the captain. Other Santas, objecting when the man was arrested, attacked security staff, Hegarty said.

The remaining Santas entered a downtown convenience store and carried off beer and soft drinks.

``They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves,'' store owner Changa Manakynda said.

Alex Dyer, a spokesman for the group, said Santarchy was a worldwide movement designed to protest the commercialization of Christmas.

I don't condone theft or property destruction, but frankly I've been expecting Santa to lose it for some time now. People constantly demanding things of him, and never offering him anything in return except a few cookies... all that sugar... all that darkness, at this time of year... who wouldn't need a drink?