“Did Santa Bring Baby Jesus Presents?”

Our twins’ questions about Christmas in “the land of milk and honey” remind me why rivers of discontent rage in the U.S.

R. Wayne Branch PhD
Fourth Wave
Published in
8 min readDec 17, 2024

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Photo by Atul Mohan on Unsplash

The Cream of Wheat had barely made it from the pot to our bowls when Zari, our daughter, asked, “Did Santa bring baby Jesus presents?” Netflix’s Journey to Bethlehem, which we’d watched the night before, had made an impression. I was happy for that!

Moving to the States from the Philippines has been stressful for our seven-year-old twins. And us! We’ve left a place dominated by Catholicism where poverty was right around the corner. And now they’re living in a fairly affluent area and attending a very diverse school.

Diversity, as we know, challenges many adults. Children have their own struggles, which adults often complicate. Zari’s question is just one of the many issues our children are navigating. We’ve only been here for a couple of months. And now, they’ve been dropped into a very different Christmas. In the States, Santa is around every corner. While, in the Philippines, Santa Claus is almost nonexistent.

“No, Jesus came before Santa,” I replied.

“Is that why not everyone believes in Santa?”

“No, baby, there are many reasons why many people don’t believe in Santa Claus.”

“Do you believe in Santa, Daddy?” she added quickly.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash

Now, I know I’m not the first parent who’s faced the “Is Santa Claus real?” question. And though I knew the question would come, I still felt insecure in my answer. “I do,” I said. “But not in the same way others might.”

“Well, I believe in Santa Claus,” her brother, Ade, exclaimed as if he’d found an ally.

“But how will Santa get in? We don’t have a chimney,” Zari replied.

“You got presents when we lived in the Philippines. And we didn’t have a chimney then,” their mother said smiling.

“Yeah, but those came from you and our godparents,” Zari said,

“And so will the presents you get this Christmas,” I said.

“What do you mean, Daddy?” Zari asked.

“I think we tell stories about Santa bringing gifts to our homes through chimneys, riding a sleigh pulled by eight beautiful reindeer, and loving milk and cookies because it makes Christmas more magical,” I replied, leaving my thoughts about Christmas, secularism, and capitalism for another day. Maybe when they’re ten, I thought.

Different cultures have different beliefs.

“Santa Claus is not so important in other parts of the world. Remember you did not hear about Santa much when we lived in the Philippines. Different cultures in different parts of the world and religions have different beliefs. Not everyone celebrates Christmas,” I added.

“And lots of children don’t get presents, right?” Zari asked.

“Sadly, yes Zari,” I replied. “Christmas is mainly a Christian holiday. You celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus, because you are born and being raised Christian. Lots of people who aren’t Christian don’t celebrate Christmas. Many also don’t believe Jesus’ birth is any more special than yours or mine.”

“You mean, like Muslims,” she said.

“Exactly! Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, lots of other religions and people. But even Christian children who celebrate Jesus’ birth do not get or give presents.”

“You mean like the poor people in Africa?” Ade asked.

“Yes,” I replied, “like the poor people in Africa, the U.S., Europe, and all over the world.”

Photo by Zeke Tucker on Unsplash

Is Santa one of “meritocracy’s” minions?

I can’t tell you where my son got the belief that Africa is so poor Santa will not bring Africa’s children gifts. It was surprising to hear. And sounded too much like Trump’s “people from shit-hole countries trying to get into the U.S.” declaration for me to let it go. How do I explain that we shouldn’t think that where people live (or what they look like) makes them good or bad? And that many good children in the world do not get presents for no fault of their own, I thought.

Now, I get our twins are not above trying to make sure they will get what they want for Christmas now that they live in the States. His mother closed that door, however. “You know everyone in the States is not rich. And neither are we,” she said.

Santa really complicates Christmas, I thought. As have beliefs that gifts and rewards should result from a person being labeled as the best, the brightest, and/or just good — the meritocracy. Turning this into a teachable moment was an opportunity I did not want to miss.

Photo by Rohit Farmer on Unsplash

The best and brightest deserve gifts

The idea that some people deserve (merit) gifts (rewards) and some do not has deep roots in the U.S. David Brooks’ article, “How the Ivy League Broke America” (The Atlantic, November 14, 2024) popped into my head. He traces our thinking on the deservers of merit to elite institutions. Brooks writes:

Conant (Harvard University president, 1933–1953) and his peers were governed by the common assumptions of the era: … Universities should serve as society’s primary sorting system, segregating the smart from the not smart.

This is how the notion that the best and the brightest deserve more (gifts, rewards, accolades) got ingrained in our heads, hearts, and institutions, he says.

Was our son’s belief in these values an unexpected outcome of our move to the States? More specifically, was it our move to where we now live? Now, how do I move these thoughts around before they become concrete in our children’s minds?

Many children have no homes for Santa to enter

“You know there are many children in the States who, like your cousins in the Philippines, don’t get presents,” their mother added.

“Really, there are kids in the U.S. that do not get presents?” Zari asked.

“Yes, there are poor people in the U.S., and all over the world, that cannot afford presents,” their mother again replied.

We both want our children to know that there are many children in the world who celebrate Jesus’ birth and have no homes for Santa to enter. That’s where, with Zari’s help, the movie we’d just seen came in handy.

“Like when Mary and Joseph had to go all the way to Bethlehem!” Zari said.

“Yes, exactly. And so did the Three Wise Men,” I said. “They left their homes also. So, think about it Three Kings followed a star to celebrate a child born to a poor homeless family being hunted by a rich powerful King. And what they found was a pregnant woman and her husband in a barn because no one would take them in.”

Photo by Lore Schodts on Unsplash

In the “land of milk and honey,” why are so many full of discontent?

“And they bought baby Jesus presents? Right, Daddy?” Ade asked. “Is that why Santa brings presents?”

“Yes, the Kings gave baby Jesus presents. But their presents came out of love and respect. It’s like when you go to a birthday party you take a gift, right?” They both nodded. “It’s sort of the same thing.”

“Then what does Santa Claus have to do with Christmas?” Ade wondered aloud.

“I think Santa Claus exists in the States to help us remember all those who will not receive presents for Christmas. Not because they are bad. But because they are poor. Not because of anything they’ve done. And not because of where they live. Many don’t get presents because of what others have done. There are children where there is war, like Ukraine and Gaza, or children who’ve had to leave their countries because of climate change who will also not get presents. Santa Claus reminds us Christmas is really about giving gifts to those in need. Just like God gave His only son to the world.

“That’s also why many people celebrate Christmas without believing in Santa Claus. They believe the celebration is more about Jesus’s birth than gift-giving. You remember our family celebrates Jesus’s birth beginning with our Noche Buena feast, sometimes we attend the Misa de Gallo, and we celebrate Three Kings Day. That’s the meaning of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Really! I didn’t know that! Zari screamed, a little too loudly. Ade begins to sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

Al Fin: Christmas is a struggle for many

Brooks blames the Ivy League’s grand design to cull the best and brightest from the masses as the reason we have this class warfare. I think he’s wrong. For me, the chasm has been concretized by cultural icons, like Santa Claus, shoving merit as a deserved prize into the faces of those denied rewards for no fault of their own. Adding insult to injury the wheels of the pretend meritocracy grind asunder those denied the rewards enjoyed by those, as Brooks accurately states, for whom the game is rigged.

Adding insult to injury the wheels of the pretend meritocracy grind asunder those denied the rewards enjoyed by those, as Brooks accurately states, for whom the game is rigged.

Not that they know it, but our twins are dealing with the same questions that have bound the country in conflict since Rev. Winthrop’s flock heard his call for them to be “Models of Christian Charity.” He admonished them to know that with their newfound opportunity came God’s expectation that they would build a shining city upon the hill that would serve as a beacon of stewardship, charity, and community to the world.

There’s no doubt that Santa Claus makes Christmas magical. I misjudged that part in our move back to the States. This makes our challenge very similar to that of Rev. Winthrop. And where David Brooks’ hindsight becomes useful. Neither our children nor the Puritans deserve the gifts (rewards) given to them. They are beneficiaries of opportunity. I pray we will make that realization stick better with our children than it did with Winthrop’s flock and their descendants.

Stay tuned!

For more stories about cracks in America’s supposed meritocracy, follow Fourth Wave. Have you got a story or poem that focuses on women or other disempowered groups? Submit to the Wave!

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R. Wayne Branch PhD
R. Wayne Branch PhD

Written by R. Wayne Branch PhD

Social Psychologist/Educator; passionate about thoughtful discourse, magical moments, and my twins. Healthy stewardship are my windmills. Creativity is breadth!

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