THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: Overselling the Dream

      *I was at work when I heard about it. It starts with a phone call to the North Pole. At least that’s what parents tell their children. The person on the other end of the phone pretends to be Santa Clause agreeing to dispatch one of his trusty underlings – better known as an elf - to their house to take reports leading up to Santa’s big night out.

      The elf comes with directions on how to get children to be on their best behavior in anticipation of a visit from Santa. Children are smarter these days. So to sell the phone call parents are told to disguise the number they dial by programming "Santa" in the phone and erasing it after the call is complete to prevent re-dials.

      Parents play an important role in this cover-up.

      The second step is for them to purchase the elf at an area store, bring it to the house and place it inside the child(ren)’s room. So when the tykes come home and see the elf they are excited, yet on their best behavior between now and Christmas Eve. Every night it’s the parents’ responsibility to move the elf from one room to the next selling the idea that while the children slept the elf submitted its daily behavior report to Santa about whether the kids have been naughty or nice.

      That’s the motive behind this farce: To sell the concept of Santa Clause, his elves and a round-the-world-in-one-night-voyage - powered by a team of reindeer - to a new generation of elementary and preschoolers.

      I understand that childhood comes with an amount of Christmas mystic. I too used to believe in Santa Clause, but this Elf on a shelf stuff is overselling the dream.
 
      A recent report revealed that elementary school aged children have little to no knowledge about the Bible and failed to recognize the names of characters in popular Bible stories moreso than the generation before them. It seems some parents prefer that their children know more about Santa Clause than Jesus Christ.

      That could be because more adults between 18 and 30 have not claimed a particular religion as their own and view the Bible only as a reference book on religion instead of a guide for how to live and treat other people. That’s according to another report.

      Freedom of religion is a constitutional right. But when Jesus Christ and Bible stories take a back seat to Santa and elves, it’s no wonder more people are concerned with what they will get for Christmas instead of what they can give to those less fortunate.

Send questions, comments or requests for speaking engagements to Steffanie Rivers at teamtcbadvertising@hotmail.com. And see the video version of her journal at youtube.com/steffanierivers.