Hard to say whether the Catholic-born Kabbalah convert Madonna celebrates Christmas. Last year, she reportedly prepped for the Yule by having four 72-pint firkins of ale delivered to her Wiltshire home: a good sign that Father Christmas was expected at the Ritchie-Ciccone residence.

On the other hand, the British tabloids report that Yohane Banda, father of the Malawian boy she is trying to adopt, got no seasonal cheer from the singer. “I can’t lie to you, she hasn’t brought us anything this Christmas,” Banda told The Daily Express last week.

That’s not to say that having Madonna in his life has put nothing in his stocking: a report in Malawi’s national newspaper The Daily Times says that what Banda initially thought was a Christmas card from a well-wisher turned out to be a check from a woman in Scotland worth 400 British pounds (about $790).