Best Christmas Gifts, Tips, Ideas, and More

The story of Rudolph, whose glowing red nose made him a standout, first appeared in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department stores distributed about 2.4 million booklets with the poem in the form of a story about “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was written by Robert L. May, who worked in the store’s marketing department, to be used to attract more people into the store. Sales soared to more than 3.5 million copies when the booklet was reissued later that year.

But it wasn’t until a decade later, in 1949, that the story really gained immense popularity when Gene Autry sang a musical version of the fable. As a Christmas song, it is second only in popularity to ‘White Christmas.’ Rudolph, the ninth reindeer whose lighted nose guides Santa’s sleigh through the night, is now known worldwide as the song has been translated into more than 20 different languages and an animated television movie has also been based on the story. Rudolph and his shiny nose have also become the subject of jokes and sparked more interest in reindeer which has led to much research into Santa and the flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the sky.

Along with the catchy rhythm of the lyrics, Rudolph’s story is also appealing because of the moral lessons it contains. As the story goes, Rudolph was ostracized by the other reindeer, who laughed and teased him about his shiny red nose. But on a foggy night, when Santa was concerned that he might not be able to deliver his Christmas gifts around the world, he spotted Rudolph and kindly asked if he would step to the front as the leader to “guide my sleigh tonight.” Rudolph’s shiny red nose would be very useful in lighting the way, Santa thought. From then on “all of the other reindeer loved him,” and rightly predicted that he “would go down in history.”

One of the moral lessons that young children can learn from Rudolph’s story is that a physical or personality characteristic that is perceived as negative or as a liability can be used for a positive purpose or become an asset. It also encourages children not to let the negative behavior of others define them and limit expectations of what can be achieved. It also illustrates how quickly opinions and attitudes about a person can change.

The question still lingers, however, of where Rudolph came from. He is commonly regarded as the son of Donner (or Donder), one of the original eight reindeer. Another theory says that he lived in a reindeer village elsewhere and it was there that he was seen by Santa who had already started on his Christmas Eve journey to deliver gifts. And in a more modern evolution of the story according to Wikipedia.com, an animation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) introduced Rudolph’s son, Robbie. That son has now become the tenth reindeer. It’s also interesting to note that the idea of Santa’s sleigh being pulled by reindeer was originated in the poem, “Twas The Night Before Christmas.” That poem tells the story of St. Nicholas, who is Santa, calling his eight tiny reindeer by their names, as previously mentioned, just before he came down the chimney of a house to start filling the stockings from a sack full of toys he carried on his back.