That's by far the most colorfully melodramatic news article I have ever read.

As a kid, my theory was always that the giving at Christmastime had to do with the Bible story of Christ's birth and the wise men trekking across the desert to give the kid gold and frankincense and myrrh. (I did not believe in Santa for very long. I was a skeptic. I mean, he always had the same handwriting as my parents.) *shrug* It could be that. But yours seems more likely.