Santa is a Jerk?!

Christmas just keeps getting closer and closer, requiring me to get my stuff together! Friday evening I made great strides towards just that. I quickly pulled myself together after work and headed out to shop. I'm happy to report that I got most of my Christmas shopping done and the stores weren't completely unbearable. I Rachel Ray'd all the bags and boxes into the house and secreted them away in one trip. Sitting down amongst all of the naked presents and their future garments, I popped in my favorite Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I happily snipped and taped as I sang along to joyous songs and precious animations when a realization struck me. This beloved movie wasn't such a happy, positive tale. 

*Spoiler Alert!* (Seriously though, this movie came out in 1964 for Pete's sake!)

Poor Rudolph is born with a genetic mutation this particular herd hasn't seen before. Instead of embracing the fact that Rudolph's nose is unique and high-tech, his parents cover it up with embarrassment. In an unfortunate turn of events, Rudolph's faux nose falls off, revealing his "deformity" to his teacher and peers. They ostracize Rudolph and he decides to run away. Meanwhile, an elf in Santa's workshop wants to be a dentist and is ostracized by his peers much like Rudolph. When these two misfits meet up, they make their way to the "Land of Misfit Toys". This is an island where Santa sends all of the toys that aren't good enough to be gifted to boys and girls around the world. So far in the film, the underlying theme children can take away is if you're different or maybe have some sort of physical defect (or maybe you want to be a dentist), you should be shut away like a leper because you aren't fit to be a part of society.

All in all, Santa and all the other jerks in the film learn the folly of their ways and come together in peace and love. Of course I don't really take the underlying themes of bullying and exclusivity as seriously as earlier stated but it