Rudolph

We had a really nice day Saturday -- we're fully in the Christmas spirit now. We took Strudel to our favorite dog store so she could have her picture taken with Santa. I'll be sure to post it in a few days. The only hitch was, someone brought in a dog she had rescued from the streets of Guatamala. The dog was very nervous, and someone suggested maybe having Strudel go over to the dog would help him calm down. That was probably a mistake. We'll just leave it at that.

We also put up our Christmas tree and other decorations in the afternoon (while we had a nice fire going in the fireplace), and then after dinner, we watched some Christmas specials -- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town (which is the one with the Bergermeister Meisterberger. No family-approporiate videos available for that one. Sorry.). It was a very nice day.

I guess the only downside was watching Rudolph. It's still one of our family favorites, but as the kids get older (and as I get older), there are certain elements of the show that are...of questionable value.

First of all, everyone in the whole show is an S.O.B. Even his girlfriend Clarice is a jerk during their first meeting. "What's wrong with your nose?" she says. "You talk funny." Sweet girl. She redeems herself with the whole "You're cute" thing, but it seems like a power trip to me, always keeping him emotionally off balance. He should stay away from her.

Rudolph's father Donner is, of course, an ogre. You can tell this was made in the middle 1960's, with the way they treat someone who's a little different, physically.

But Santa is the absoluate worst of them all, which is what disturbs me most. He completely dismisses the head elf's attempt at a song that was written to please him, saying "Still needs work. I gotta go," and he takes off. Total diss. The worst, though -- when Rudolph's fake nose pops off during the reindeer games, and everyone makes fun of him, Santa's reaction to Rudolph's father is, "Donner, you should be ashamed of yourself."

Is it any wonder kids cry when they get put on Santa's lap? Who would want to hang out with this guy? Kids aren't afraid of the beard, or the loud "Ho ho ho," they're afraid Santa's going to look at their parents and say, "Gee Mom, Timmy's ears are a little big. You should be ashamed of yourself." Or maybe, "Gosh, Dad, looks like Sally got your weird looking eyebrows. How can you live with yourself?"

The best moments of our viewing, though, came from Peter. After Rudolph runs away, his father Donner vows to find him. When his mother says she wants to come, too, Donner says, "No -- this is man's work." When he heard that, Peter half-whispered "That's kind of sexist, isn't it?" And then after Yukon Cornelius pushes the snowman off the cliff, the narrator says, "While they were all very sad at the loss of their friend, they agreed it was best to get the womenfolk back to Christmastown as soon as possible." When it was over, Peter said, "That was the most sexist Christmas special I've ever seen."

It's sure a different world, isn't it? Not exactly a Mr. Rogers approved Christmas special.

Sorry if Rudolph is one of your favorites, and I ruined it for you. Come back in a couple of days when I ruin some of your favorite Christmas songs for you, too.