Going Unplugged for the Holidays

A Letter From the Editor: Monique Franz

Santa didn’t show up for me in the same way he showed up for my friends and classmates.

From the time I was five years old, I wrote letters to Saint Nick, telling him what I wanted for Christmas and reminding him of how good I had been throughout the year. Still, my requests seemed to go unanswered.

Maybe the letter wasn’t mailed. Maybe he got my letter mixed up with another kid. But year after year, I felt dissed by Santa. After several disappointing Christmases, I eventually realized that Santa was my young, single mother, raising three kids on minimum wage. Then—and only then—did I see the miracle of Christmas. To this day, I don’t know how my mother managed to put presents under our tree.

For parents who teach their children about Santa, I would encourage them to teach their kids that Santa creates toys, while Sony, Samsung, and Apple create electronics. In this way, kids would understand that electronic gifts are from mom and dad. Framing it this way can help children avoid feeling the sting of inequality when comparing what they receive with what other children get.

When I had four children of my own, I couldn’t bear to set them up for the kind of Santa disappointments I experienced. Instead, my husband and I focused on sharing our faith in the Nativity, which carries so much magical essence in the Gift that God gave to the world. We also taught our children about the historical and heroic Saint Nicholas of the third century who inspired the mythical Claus, but our children always knew that gifts under the tree were from us.

As our children became teens, we finally established a no-electronics Christmas. We stopped giving our children Wii devices, Xbox games, and smartphones for the holidays—items that seemed to disengage our children from family bonding while compounding debt in the year to come. Instead, we encouraged them to include electronics on their birthday wish lists, easing the financial strain of the holiday season.

As a result, our unplugged Christmases created more space for our family to connect in deeper ways—connection to our core values, to art, theater, literature, and most importantly, to one another.

---

Monique Franz, founding editor of Kinsman Quarterly, has been instrumental in publishing over 80 underrepresented voices worldwide. A published author, playwright, and teaching artist, Franz has traveled to 33 countries, directing theater and youth ministry programs. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, where she received the Beverly Hiscox and Norris Church Mailer scholarships. Among her publications, she authored Legacy of a Father and contributed editorial work to Kinsman Quarterly and the cultural anthologies Black Diaspora, Native Voices, SLAM!, and The Presence.