By Jordan Bickham

Staff Writer

The thought of Christmas conjures up images of large Christmas trees decked out in ornaments, presents all over the floor, and tons of food; but is that what Christmas is truly about?

Christmas is a holiday based on religious beliefs, celebrating the birth of Christ. But with the invention of Santa Claus and presents appearing under the tree, the holiday has begun to lose its religious roots.

Christmas was first introduced on Dec 25 by Roman pagans through the holiday of Saturnalia, a weeklong period of lawlessness that ended on Dec 25. In the 4th century AD, Christianity adopted the holiday in hopes of converting pagan worshippers to Christianity, but there was nothing Christian about the holiday.

To fix this, they named the concluding day of Saturnalia to be Jesus’ birthday. While this is how the holiday began, the invention of Santa Claus did not come till much later with St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas was a historic fourth-century saint and a Greek bishop of Myra. Due to many miracles he performed during his lifetime and his reputation for secret gift giving (such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out), he easily became the model for the modern Santa Claus.

The image of a jolly, chubby, older man came from the 1823 poem originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” but is now known famously as “The Night Before Christmas,” that described him with twinkling eyes, merry dimples, rosy cheeks and that he was, “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf…”

After this, other writers and artists continued to change the original European St. Nicholas bishop into the modern, elf Santa Claus.

With the evolution of Santa Claus into a man who slips down the chimney and scatters presents under the tree for the good children came the commercialization of the Christmas holiday. When businesses noticed the appeal of Christmas, they pounced, attracting people to their goods with the promise that they will be the perfect Christmas present.

While the season of giving among loved ones is always a positive aspect of the holiday, it should not overshadow the true purpose of the holiday.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of family connection, love and religion, but the true meaning has been overlooked with the promise of toys, a visit from Santa Claus and the thought of a North Pole. Instead of children looking forward to a family dinner and a nice break, they look forward to the morning when they get the toys they had been anticipating all year.

Giving and receiving gifts with friends and family is always wonderful, but when it takes away from the religious aspect and the true meaning, there is a problem.

I have definitely seen this modern aspect of Christmas first hand at my own house. With two younger siblings, the tradition of Santa Claus in my house is still going strong. While I look forward to visiting family and traveling, my brother and sister become delirious over the promise of gifts on Christmas morning, making their anticipation the only thing they focus on while visiting family.

This promise has made children greedy and focused on material items rather than making family connections that last a lifetime. Toys are thrown away within a few years, but family remains for years to come.

One great time to make these connections is during the Christmas holiday. But now, kids only care about toys, so these connections are not made and family seems unimportant.

What happened to the traditional Christmas dinner? What happened to Christmas caroling through the neighborhood? What happened to Christmas being about family and religion?

As society becomes more selfish and the need for new stuff increases, Christmas becomes more and more commercialized to appeal to everyone. As a religious holiday, Christmas attracts specifically those who practice that religion, but as Christmas becomes less about religion and more about gifts, it now appeals to everyone, making it a universal holiday.

While Christmas being a holiday everyone can enjoy is not bad, the fact that it’s meaning has completely changed over the years is not so good.

Christmas should be about making memories, close connections with family and gathering around the fire. Some families still celebrate it as such, but the majority has bent their own traditions to fit within society’s image of a classic Christmas holiday.

Now, Christmas is a seen as a day where kids ignore family and dive into presents, as relatives compete to give their family members the grandest gift.

Gifts cannot replace love, and Christmas cannot be replaced with a commercialized, general holiday that has no true meaning. The holiday that is supposed to represent love and family has become an empty holiday that relies on the promise of Santa Claus and gift.