As I finished up my last minute shopping at A.C. Moore on Saturday afternoon, I found myself subsequently stuck in mall traffic sipping coffee.

In the spirit of giving, I stopped at an intersection to let a car turn in front of me. A horn blared behind me and in my rearview mirror was a red-faced cheerful holiday-goer giving me two middle fingers and a backseat full of shopping bags.

In turn, I decided to try on my mantra of this holiday season, "Happy Holidays, while the merry bells keep ringing, Happy Holidays to you."

I gave her a thumbs-up and smiled at her through my rearview mirror as she continued to scream at me from the safety of her car. When had the holiday season become the stress of shopping that caused my traffic pal to be dissatisfied with my friendly gesture?

I blame it on Rudolph.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer originated with Mr. Robert L. May, a copywriter for Montgomery Ward in 1939. The post-WWII novelty appeared just in time for the Great Depression's end. People had money to spend and Montgomery Ward was ready to begin one of the hugest merchandising campaigns in history. The store had previously given away coloring books, but decided to create its own. Writer and department store combined forces creating the promotional material during the holiday season to give away to shoppers. And since May had a knack for writing children's stories and lyrics, he began the monetarily fruitful trend of consumerism that continues today.

Based on the story The Ugly Duckling, May created the rhyming couplet lyrical tale of Rudolph's famous red nose and by 1946, six million copies had been distributed. In the original story, Rudolph was not one of Santa's original reindeer and didn't live at the North Pole. He was a responsible reindeer, brought up with a good self-image, despite people taunting him for his bright red nose. Santa discovered him by accident (because of his glowing red nose) while delivering Christmas presents at his house.
Because Christmas happened to have low-visibility that year, Santa asked Rudolph to lead the team of reindeer with his brightly lit schnozz to assure that everyone's gifts would arrive in time for Christmas.

Soon after the phenomenon (in1947), May took the copyright to his coloring book and published it as a fictional story. With its success, May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, created the catchy song lyrics and melody that we all know from memory. The novelty tune took flight when Gene Autry recorded the tune in 1949. In 1964, Rudolph, the moneymaker, continued his trend by becoming an NBC claymation extravaganza for the masses.

After tweaking the original story to give Rudolph a love interest, Clarice, an unhappy group of elves, the Abominable Snow Monster, and a few other additions, NBC was in the Christmas business. And the rest is history, so to speak. Rudolph, the Red Nosed-Reindeer, you'll go down in history!

So, it might have been a copywriter's need for money and Montgomery Ward's need for post-Great Depression consumers that created Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It might have been May's brother-in-law musician, Johnny Marks, and his need for money that skyrocketed the legend of the reindeer. NBC might have been profiting from an already popularized fictional character. And it appears that cute little Rudolph was just a billion-dollar money making scheme to get you to shop.

But instead of driving home angry carrying handfuls of bags from the mall after spending your hard-earned money, the real story of how Rudolph the Red Nosed-Reindeer was created should remind you what the true meaning of Christmas is: spending time with family and friends and enjoying their company - without having to spend a dime.

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