Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without all its commercial cliches: the tree, the lights, Santa. But some people feel those commercial aspects take us away from the True Meaning of Christmas. Insert melodramatic movie announcer voice here.

We often hear that we should forget all the material stuff, and remember that the holiday is about charity, peace and love.

But indulging in the moneyed part of the holiday doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten that. On the contrary, the presents, the food and the decorations all help us to celebrate love, joy, etc. These things are symbols of everything Christmas represents.

Look at Santa, the very icon of yuletide. There’s debate over whether Coca-Cola’s Haddon Sundblom actually created the red-suited, chubby-cheeked Santa that we all recognize today. However, Coca-Cola played a huge part in publicizing that image and making it stick. We owe one of our biggest holiday traditions to a commercial enterprise.

Santa also represents material goods when he’s in his sleigh. He brings all the boys and girls remote control cars and candy and that mini yellow Jeep you wanted so badly when you were 6. There’s nothing wrong with that. All these presents serve one purpose: to bring joy.

How about the old Tannenbaum? Small, live tree from Earl May, $40. A 22-glass-ornament set from Target, $50. A 15-plastic-ornament set, $10. An angel to top it all off, $20. Just on the tree, that’s $120. And we haven’t put the presents under it.

But what does that matter when your whole family is gathered around it, singing Christmas carols or just catching up after a year of virtually no contact? You could do that in a living room devoid of decorations but, somehow, a group Christmas sing-along just doesn’t seem right unless a tree is in the vicinity.

I’ve known many members of my family to just sit in the darkened living room, watching the lights on the tree and breathing in pine. OK, and maybe checking the tags on presents. There’s something very peaceful about a lit Christmas tree, which is probably why it’s been such a long-standing tradition.

Which leads me to food for your Christmas meal. You could just eat some chicken-flavored stuff from a box and drink water and call it a night. But would that really make you thankful for everything you have? I think a smorgasbord is really the only way to accomplish that completely.

Bring on the eggnog, the green bean casserole and the smoked turkey! Now it feels like there’s a something to celebrate. The meal signifies the celebration of family, love, joy and gratitude all in one.

And it just feels so much better when Grandma blesses a meal that took hours to make and will take hours more to digest. When every member of a family, even those who aren’t so religious, bow their heads to pray, that means something powerful.

Really, the main values behind Christmas are all that is solid in the holiday anymore. Many of the people who celebrate Christmas aren’t Christian. They aren’t celebrating the birth of Christ, they’re celebrating family, love and peace.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate Christ if he’s part of your beliefs. But Christmas means something different to everyone. The fundamental ideas behind it, however, remain universal.

The commercial aspects of the holiday only represent these ideas. They can’t and don’t replace them.

Throwing out all the material components of Christmas would mean getting rid of what they signify as well. That would leave the season completely unrecognizable.

There are entire movies made called things like “The Year Without Santa Claus.” It’s always portrayed as some kind of disaster. Well, in some ways, wouldn’t it be?

I guess we could sit around and talk about love and peace for a whole season. But it would be meaningless without the songs, the tree and the food, all of which are part of the commercial celebration.

– Bailey Lewis is a sophomore in English from Indianola.