However, when he steps into the festively decorated room, ready to disperse gifts, he discovers there is no room for what he has brought. A mother standing in the corner, sipping her warm cup of hot chocolate, smugly tells Santa that he is no longer needed.
Many of us saw this Best Buy commercial over Thanksgiving break, in which Santa is kicked to the curb because Best Buy has everything kids could ever want. It seems innocent and funny enough on the surface, but what does it convey about our culture? Are we as Americans so obsessed with material things that we’re abandoning even the prop of Santa Claus?
Christmas is already on a decline with the steady movement away from its origins. What started as a holiday to celebrate the birth of a Savior has slipped into a holiday centered around consumerism. The image of Jesus in the manger has slowly been replaced by Santa and his elves at the North Pole. We’ve gone away from celebrating the birth of Christ to obsessing over whether or not everything on our wish list is under the Christmas tree. Jesus, the king of the world, has fallen to Santa, the king of materialism.
This saddening move was covered up by cheerful elves and a couple of “ho ho ho’s.”After all, who wouldn’t want to believe in a figure who gives you everything you want? Slowly, in the guise of a red suit, the American love of stuff crept into Christmas and overtook the meaning of the holiday.
We justified this takeover, telling ourselves that it was okay because we weren’t really celebrating presents; we were celebrating Santa and the whole “Christmas spirit.” However, if Santa is now being taken out of the picture, as the Best Buy ad suggests, what are we left with? There aren’t any more reindeer or sleigh bells to cover up our ugly materialism. Christmas will become a holiday wholly centered around giving and receiving, with no frills or happy thoughts around the edges.
The jolly reign of Santa has come to end, and a new reign is about to begin. Without the image of Santa to guide them, how many Americans will be comfortable facing their addiction to purchasing and receiving head on and accepting that that is what their holidays have become? As Christians, this is an opportunity to renew the image of Christ and to renew hope. In this period of transition, let’s all resolve to take a step forward and give people something more substantial to hold onto during this holiday season.
