Shocking news from across the ocean - Santa Claus is conspiring against kids!

All right, perhaps that's a bit of an alarmist viewpoint on good ol' jolly Saint Nick and his army of reindeer and elves, but that'll probably be the way the children see it. International marketing analysis firm TNS Global undertook a study before Christmas 2005 regarding Christmas gifts for children. The study examined an apparent gap between parents and kids, Christmas gifts this time at center of yet another generational clash. The results seem to imply that disappointment may well be instituted as another tradition for some glum ones.

Not surprisingly, the excellent market position of video game sets GameBoy and Xbox place these high among desired Christmas gifts. For children, these gadgets garnered happy responses of "yes, I want that" from twenty-eight percent and twenty-two percent of those surveyed, respectively. GameBoy games figured in the wants of another twenty-seven percent. Already does the survey present a classic example of disagreement: Parents reckoned their children might see these gifts to the tune of meager eight, six and eleven percent scores.

The iPod, that Holy Grail of the recent years for children wanting that in-school status symbol, bagged twenty-five percent affirmatives among the younglings, while the voice of Santa Claus booms out nine percent under the surface ho-ho-ho's. The ever-popular (and ever-expensive) personal computer was opted for by twenty-two percent of children, but parents contemplating their Swiss cheese-like wallets said "maybe" to this only eight percent of the time.

So on what do children and parents (also known as the final arbiters of kids Christmas gifts) see eye-to-eye? On Christmas gifts for children, parents are mostly likely to buy films and/or DVDs (fifty-one percent of parents, while thirty-two percent of children indicated interest) and CDs (forty-two and twenty-six, respectively). And PC games scored equal interest, with both groups selecting this treat twenty-four percent of the time.

Only time (December 25th, to be exact) will tell if the tastes within these options. Music will no doubt always be difficult Christmas gifts for children, should Tony Bennett not exactly be to Junior's tastes. And one wonders precisely which DVDs will be presented to the young ones on that day - surely not something educational when what eager Christmas beavers were craving was "Napoleon Dynamite" or the box set of "Doctor Who: The Key to Time."

Interestingly, socks did not make the top ten among children's requests. These ratios are surely quite different among parents and children as well.

Meanwhile, TNS showed in another survey of North Americans, that the market for Christmas gifts for children is as strong as it was six years ago, before the general economic malaise. High numbers are being shown in consumer confidence in both Canada and America, and the average Canadian plans to spend over eight hundred dollars on the holiday this year. Surely that means a lot of Xboxes, right...?