How A Doll Empire Exposed A Big Cultural Blind Spot

I will never forget the year I found out the truth about Santa Claus. The first thing I remember my mom, who worked long hours, saying to me was: “Oh good. Now you can help me wrap the presents.”

Within a matter of weeks, I was deeply regretting my decision to tell her the jig was up. Picture me, somewhere around the age of 11, relegated to the basement after school every day to wrap each individually boxed miniature notebook, picnic lunch, sweater, and ruffle-clad bedspread meant to go with the eternally popular Samantha Parkington American Girl doll.