It's Christmas time and there are a few things that we can depend on to alert us that it's that time of year again:1) Baby Jesus in his bed of straw;
2) Christmas music blaring on the radio; and (drum roll)
3) Santa Claus is coming to town! *in my most impressively sarcastic voice*
Please permit me to tell you a story:
Once upon a time, when I was 7 years old, I was allowed to stay up late to watch a Christmas movie that featured none other than rosy St. Nick himself. I was so very impressed by the fat white man with the long wavy white beard who, despite his hefty figure, slipped down people's chimneys on Christmas Eve night, leaving presents to all the good little girls and boys. At the end of the movie, I made a decision:
Apparently, the criteria for earning a present from the jolly old man was to have been a good child all year long. Easy! I was the 'goodest' child of them all! And so I sat down with my piece of paper and my pencil and I wrote Santa a letter and asked him for a toy. It occurred to me that there was a slight dilemma; I didn't have a chimney, after all I lived in the Caribbean. But that didn't de-motivate me. I wrote my letter and I begged Mommy to take me to the post office so that I could send it off to the North Pole, ignoring her warnings that he wasn't real despite what everyone in TV land said.
It's interesting to note, that even at that tender age, my greatest concern wasn't the toy I'd asked for but the idea of this old man finding his way into my home to get it to me. I guess you could say I was testing the story; I wanted to see if he would really come, to see if he really cared about a little black girl in the Caribbean who didn't have a chimney.
Santa failed my test miserably!
On Christmas morning, there wasn't one present from him under my Christmas tree and my Oreo cookies remained untouched (not that I minded that part so much). I remember making excuses for him, thinking that maybe I'd sent the letter too late and it didn't reach him in time, or maybe my absent chimney was more of a problem than I thought. Whatever the reason, Santa didn't make it to my house that Christmas, and I later learned that he didn't make it to the homes of any other kid I knew either.
In fact, he didn't make it at any Christmas at all and it didn't take long for me to start believing that Santa didn't like me and he didn't like Caribbean kids and he wasn't going to waste his reindeer fuel on us...although people continued to promote him as a super duper present-giver to all the children of the world.
Lies! All lies, I tell you!
When I was older, I saw a news report that said Santa was getting help from more than just his elves. Apparently, he was getting help from Fisher Price and other companies who made toys for kids too. The report said that children were getting gifts from Santa that were manufactured by popular toy makers. Parents swore they had nothing to do with it and the companies either confessed or said that it was a secret.
Hmmmm.....
All this was well and good, except every year, a bunch of pre-teens (and younger) wake to the devastating realization that there is no Santa Clause; that they've been lied to from day one. They go crazy, start smoking pot, drinking alcohol, overdosing on prescription meds and spending late nights in front of toy stores while cursing drunkenly!
Well, not really.
But my question is this: What's the point of the Santa story? Why all the effort to lie about this fat white man that doesn't exist? Why build false hopes and dreams in a child, only to have them crushed in a few years time? What's the purpose people?And I have another question: Do parents realize that Santa's real name is Consumerism? His wide paunch alone exemplifies it. Do parents realize that to keep the dream alive, they have to spend extra money on an extra present, just to keep their kids believing that a big belly man from the North Pole loves them?
Toys are only getting more and more expensive my friends. That's a fact that hit me square in the face when I went out to buy presents for my God-kids.
Personally, I think the season should be more about giving love, like Myst Carnival did with their HUGs (Help Us Give) food drive; collecting food for the less fortunate. To me, the season would be better spent with loved ones, family and friends; sharing and caring and being grateful for the many blessings we have in our lives. How about we teach our kids about the reason for the season instead of encouraging them to idolize Santa Clause and the consumerism that he symbolizes.
Some people may disagree with me and that's ok. This is just my two cents...
And by the way, watch out Easter Bunny...you're next! Wohahahahaaa!
Please enjoy King Obstinate's song: "How Will Santa Get Here?"
