Santa Claus, the most jolly of all of the jolly old elves is not usually known as the figure of controversy for the most part but he has suddenly been thrust into the center of a heated debate. The topic of this glaring battle is his weight, namely his jelly belly. Several people have decided to take Santa to task for his ongoing battle with obesity and the terrible example it sets for the children.

It started several years ago, when people started realizing that the obesity epidemic was far more reaching and more serious than they had originally thought. But, Santa and his costumed helpers did not get dragged into the melee until 2007 when Steven K. Galson, the acting US Surgeon General decided to publicly name Claus and called him both obese and a terrible role model for growing children. Santa was apparently not contacted for a statement at that time.

Several costume shops, especially those that specialize in the costumes for Santa's many helpers have been reporting an increase in the sizes they need to carry to satisfy customer need. One costume shop which has been in business for more than forty years started with a Santa suit that went up to a fifty inch waist as its biggest. In recent years that shop has had to add much larger costumes including the new largest in stock that fits a person between three hundred and four hundred pounds with a seventy six inch waistline. Sales of that size are brisk. Other costume shops are reporting the exact same thing with many having to move to 3X and larger sizes.

Claus himself has reportedly not gained a lot of weight in recent years but has mostly remained at a stable weight. While the number on the scale can raise the risk for serious health conditions, Claus has proven to be quite spry and remains jolly, in spite of himself. Appearance cannot serve as a health assessment but Claus is often described as having a twinkle in his eyes and cheeks like cherries.

Weight is not the only thing that has put Claus on the grinches radar though. A Canadian woman has decided to rewrite the classic poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to exclude Santa's pipe because it might encourage smoking among young children. The revised poem was met with major disappointment and outrage by people from all over the world who felt that the classic should remain unchanged.