The Real Meaning Of Christmas ?

Blueberry over at Texas Oasis has discovered what has to be the weirdest christmas display of the year. The display, in Nipomo (California), shows a dead Santa Claus spread out on the ground. Standing above him and wielding a shotgun is Jesus, as though he had just shot the jolly old elf. On the pickup behind Jesus is a dead Rudolph tied to the front of the truck.

The man who built the display, Ron Lake, says the display is a humorous attempt to get at the commercialism of christmas and show the holiday is about Jesus and not Santa. Somehow I think he has also missed the point of christmas. Back when I was a christian, I was taught it was to season of hope and love. Even a "mythical" murder doesn't seem to convey the same sentiment.

There is a school bus stop just outside the fence to this property, and that has Lake's neighbors upset. They don't think the display is appropriate for a place where children gather, and they are trying to get him to take down the display.

Lake says, "You can tell your kids and make it as if there's a Santa Claus, and let them believe all that, but you can't explain these things or ignore this thing. I don't get it." Surely he's smarter than that. Is he really trying to equate the gentle and happy story of Santa Claus with his display depicting a murder of two characters beloved by children?

This is a free country and Lake has his right to put up the display, but I have to think the display is in very poor taste.