The Christmas we all know — Jolly Fat Santa in all of his glory and trees covered in delicate ornaments — is in the kindest way possible the most flashy holiday in existence. Yet, it wasn’t always this way. Based on the celebration of Jesus Christ on the day of his death, Christmas found many traditions on its path towards the epitome of commercialization.

Pulling ornaments from their assorted boxes to place them on the tree always has been a favorite of my holiday activities, and so it seems many before me. In 1880, F.W. Woodsworth started the ornament craze out of his variety store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This, perhaps, was the beginning of the Christmas commercialized season.

Santa Claus is the most iconic symbol of the holiday, yet his character strays the furthest from the ‘true meaning of Christmas’. Once known as St. Nicholas, the bearded man was one of most fluid figures for stores to market with. Though he has been a part of Christmas since what could have been a beginning to the holiday, the modern day Santa Claus (derived from the Dutch name Sinter Klaas) was first seen in the 1920s, from nothing other than a Coca-Cola ad in the Saturday Evening Post. Come the 1930s, Father Christmas got a hefty makeover to achieve a more ‘wholesome’ Santa. In fact, they are the very reason he is dawning his cherry red suit. Santa was once depicted as a tall ‘elfish’ man wearing a green cloak, prior to Coke‘s new look, which just so happened to match their cherry red label. 

Next time you see Santa in the mall, little children crawling into his lap, you can thank Coke for turning Santa into a franchised man.

Our favorite reindeer is a marketing scheme too.  Robert L. May used Rudolph to promote the newspaper, Montgomery Wards. The edition featuring the story of Rudolph was given away for free; over 2 million were distributed. Quite the publicity piece- today Rudolph has a movie of his own, songs upon songs about him, and a legendary status among the Christmas characters.

Christmas is the giving season and the season for family, but it would be naive to ignore the process and woodwork of capitalism around us, so as Lucy once said in A Charlie Brown Christmas, “Look, Charlie, let’s face it, we all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”