Letter From Santa Claus | Rudolph, Santa’s Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph, Santa’s Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is by far the most popular and well-known of Santa’s reindeer. The repetitiveness in his name probably accounts for part of the popularity; it would certainly be difficult to have equally catchy descriptions of Santa’s other eight reindeer-sometimes it’d hard to even remember their names. Let’s see, there’s Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.

The story of Rudolph first appeared in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department stores issued a booklet to entice more people to come into the store. For a number of years the store had purchased coloring books to give to the children, but this was during the Great Depression and the company wanted to save money. Robert L. May, an employee who worked in the advertising department of the store, was asked to come up with something to replace the coloring book.

May had a four year old daughter who was quite distressed over the terminal illness of her mother and in an attempt to distract and entertain her he wrote a story in poetry titled “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” In response to the request for something to replace the coloring books, May put this poem in a booklet and 2.4 million copies were handed out that year. Even with the paper shortages during World War II, by 1946 over 6 million copies  of the popular booklet had been distributed.

Johnny Marks, May’s brother-in-law, was a radio producer who during WW II also produced entertainment shows for soldiers overseas. He was requested to write a song based on the popular poem, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Marks honored the request; later the song gained great popularity through the recording by Gene Autry.

Over 30 million copies of the recording have been sold. In addition to recordings, the 1964 television special about Rudolph, narrated by Burl Ives, remains a holiday favorite to this day. Rudolph is a much-loved Christmas image.

Rudolph’s story is fascinating not only because of the captivating tempo of the lyrics but also for the moral lessons it portrays. As you remember, the other reindeer made Rudolph an outcast; they laughed at his shiny red nose. His different look caused the other reindeer to refuse to play with him.

Then came a Christmas Eve when it was so foggy that Santa was afraid he would not be able to make his round to deliver gifts. He approached Rudolph and asked him if he would lead the team and ‘guide my sleigh tonight.’ His shiny red nose was exactly what was needed to light the way for Santa. The story concludes with how much all the other reindeer loved him and how he would go down in history.

There are many moral lessons to be gleaned from Rudolph’s story, not the least of which is that what one may consider to be a negative characteristic, as Rudolph’s red nose was to the other reindeer, can be quickly changed to a positive one.

Look for the Rudolph Train Here

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