Madrid Opens Complaint Hotline for Kids Who Did Not Get Christmas Presents This Year

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Instead of getting all their presents on Christmas morning, Christian kids in Spain tend to get their presents on Epiphany from the Three Kings. They even write letters to the Three Kings asking for specific presents, they leave snacks and drinks out for the Three Kings and their camels, and then in the morning on Epiphany–January 6–they get toys and presents. As we all know, though, the financial circumstances of their parents means that some kids don’t get presents. This year the mayor of Madrid decided that shouldn’t stand, so she set up a hotline at City Hall for kids to call and complain if the Three Kings didn’t bring them anything this year.

According to The Local, Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena opened the hotline because she didn’t like the idea of kids being left out on Epiphany.

”It’s my wish that not a single child in Madrid is left without a present,” she said. ”If a child wakes up and finds nothing then they should call the City Hall, as that’s not right.”

Eight kids did use the Madrid Three Kings complaint hotline  the next day to report that they hadn’t received any presents, so a couple city employees ran out to get  some presents, then they delivered them to the kids’ houses and said that there had been a “logistical problem” and the three wise men had been forced to drop the presents off at city hall “for safekeeping” instead.

That’s pretty cute, but it seems surprising that only eight children did not get anything for the holiday. The eight kids who did use the Three Kings hotline were reportedly from three different families. One was a set of five siblings, another was two siblings whose parents were both unemployed, and the third was an only child.