I am not a religious person, but my best memories of church are of my grandmother and I standing together beside an angel tree. We went year-round, but at this time of year, the community room would be home to a Christmas tree covered in paper tags. 

We would stand there together choosing a few names, and then spend time looking for gifts for people we would never meet. It made us feel like we were quietly part of something bigger. 

This year, that feeling came back to me in a very modern way — through TikTok.

My For You Page has been full of angel tree videos. People film the tags they pick and make haul videos of what they buy. One woman in the U.S. has been taking on multiple angel trees and going above and beyond. In one video, she arranges for a boy to get a kitten, plus bags of cat supplies. 

It has been nice to see the outpouring of generosity. After a while, I started looking for angel trees in Winnipeg too and picked up a few tags from one in my community. It feels like a small, practical way to share what I have, because no one should have to go without gifts during the holiday season. 

But, the cynic in me will not stay quiet. 

I cannot ignore the fact that there seem to be more people in need this year, not fewer. A lot of the tags read less like wish lists and more like shopping lists for basics such as grocery gift cards, shampoo, diapers and baby formula. These are essentials that should not depend on a stranger’s spare cash and soft heart to be within reach.

We talk a lot about the kindness of community, and that is real. What we talk about less is why we are having to lean so heavily on each other in the first place. In Canada, income inequality continues to grow while corporate profits look more than healthy. Rent, food prices and bills do not stop climbing. The federal and provincial governments preach about affordability measures, even as they take a notable neoliberal turn that leaves more to the market and private organizations. 

Angel trees are a kind invention for an unkind reality. While the sentiment is beautiful, we should let the needs they reveal push us to keep advocating for a world where such gestures are less necessary.

There is no shame in asking for help, and no shame in feeling good when you give it. I am glad TikTok has turned generosity into something more people feel moved to take part in. Mutual care is one of the only ways many of us are getting through this cost-of-living crisis with our humanity intact. 

But we should be honest about what these trees are really telling us. They say that we are being left to sort out among ourselves what those with far more power and money have chosen to inflict and look away from. They say that a child’s basic needs are being outsourced to seasonal charity while corporations post record earnings and governments shy away from solidarity.

This Christmas, I am glad to support initiatives like angel trees. I will likely still feel that old, quiet joy when I drop the gifts off. I just refuse to let that feeling be the end of the story. If the tags on the tree break your heart a little, that is not a sign of something wrong with you. That is a sign something is wrong with a system that leaves many behind so a few can live untouched by the consequences. 

The kindness is real. So is the crisis. We should not let that kindness distract us from the crisis behind it.