A Simple Christmas Message You Did Not See Coming [Video]

What is the biggest complaint most of us have about Christmas? It is too commercial. The stores start putting out Christmas displays before Halloween. There are huge pushes to claim our spendable income on the day after Thanksgiving. It is all about spend, spend, spend and spend some more.

Then some very creative mind brings us a commercial, yes a commercial that becomes as much a part of our Christmas as Charlie Brown and Rudolph.  Many of my favorite Christmas memories are tied to commercials.

When I was a kid the commercial with Santa riding across the snow on a Norelco electric shaver meant that Christmas was upon us. The Polar Bears that enjoy a Coke and the northern lights is another commercial that warms the heart this time of year. How about the wagon ride through the falling snow pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales?

There is also the Folgers coffee commercial that features a mother being awakened by the smell of brewing coffee only to find her son had made it home for the holidays. These commercial messages find that special place in our hearts and psyche and connect the products they are pitching with the feelings we have for the holidays.

My new favorite commercial is actually an advertisement from last Christmas. It is for a retailer in Great Britain, John Lewis. The commercial has no spoken dialogue, only a warm and inviting vocal track and a charming young boy. It is not what you expect.

Give it a look and remember this, Christmas is only a commercial event if you let it become one. Keep it in your heart and hold it close and know that those commercials are putting Christmas dinner on the tables of a lot of people this holiday season and beyond.