It's kind of hard to maintain a belief in a guy that supposedly hand-makes toys at the North Pole (as shown in all the old Christmas specials) when all of those said toys had "Made in Taiwan" stamped on them. And then Berke Breathed had a wonderful sequence of Bloom County strips early on that had the elves lamenting over how the hell they were supposed to make the new electronic things modern kids were asking for ("What the hell is a BetaMax?" "I don't know, just make it!")
I have always believed that "Santa" (and his various incarnations throughout history) was simply a psychopomp, the personification of selfless giving. Some want to say that Christmas giving comes from the scene in the new testament where kings are giving another king tribute. I say it's more from Yule than from this. Think on it. Northern people facing the oncoming winter might want to make sure their fellow villagers are around when spring comes. But you're a proud people who like to give charity more than take it. So that's what those trees with the lights on were for - to lead the needy towards anonymous charity. Fucking Pratchett-level "headology". So everyone got everything they needed for the winter, and no one had to feel the shame of taking charity/being seen as needy. So you give a name to the fake all-giver and make up a story that becomes for kids eventually (all stories and satire, once they've lost their original purpose, get given to kids).
And keep in mind "Santa" used to often be accompanied by a "krampus" or Black Peter sort of character (I have never heard of krampus until recently, from fucking American Dad, actually, but he seems to have become a "thing".) - at the very least, Santa would leave coal for "the real brats". Problem is, no one ever actually got any coal (or a beating, presumably), and anyway, nowadays, a sock full of coal might be worth something. Now he just gives without regard to behaviour in this post-60s, anything goes era.
Oh, and as an addendum, because editing is so crap, I just want to add here that if we did base our gift-giving on the "Magi" story, we'd be sacrificing incense to Jesus on Christmas (or something along those lines) instead of giving each other gifts.
It's kind of hard to maintain a belief in a guy that supposedly hand-makes toys at the North Pole (as shown in all the old Christmas specials) when all of those said toys had "Made in Taiwan" stamped on them. And then Berke Breathed had a wonderful sequence of Bloom County strips early on that had the elves lamenting over how the hell they were supposed to make the new electronic things modern kids were asking for ("What the hell is a BetaMax?" "I don't know, just make it!")
I have always believed that "Santa" (and his various incarnations throughout history) was simply a psychopomp, the personification of selfless giving. Some want to say that Christmas giving comes from the scene in the new testament where kings are giving another king tribute. I say it's more from Yule than from this. Think on it. Northern people facing the oncoming winter might want to make sure their fellow villagers are around when spring comes. But you're a proud people who like to give charity more than take it. So that's what those trees with the lights on were for - to lead the needy towards anonymous charity. Fucking Pratchett-level "headology". So everyone got everything they needed for the winter, and no one had to feel the shame of taking charity/being seen as needy. So you give a name to the fake all-giver and make up a story that becomes for kids eventually (all stories and satire, once they've lost their original purpose, get given to kids).
And keep in mind "Santa" used to often be accompanied by a "krampus" or Black Peter sort of character (I have never heard of krampus until recently, from fucking American Dad, actually, but he seems to have become a "thing".) - at the very least, Santa would leave coal for "the real brats". Problem is, no one ever actually got any coal (or a beating, presumably), and anyway, nowadays, a sock full of coal might be worth something. Now he just gives without regard to behaviour in this post-60s, anything goes era.
Oh, and as an addendum, because editing is so crap, I just want to add here that if we did base our gift-giving on the "Magi" story, we'd be sacrificing incense to Jesus on Christmas (or something along those lines) instead of giving each other gifts.