Certainly it was a joke and the Xbox is sitting out of the box in the next room. They wouldn't SERIOUSLY do that to a kid without following up with the real goods, right? Right? RIGHT???
I remember one Christmas when I was a kid. My older sister (About 15 at the time I think - I was about 8 ) was a brat, and my parents kept warning her that she would get nothing but coal on Christmas. Well Christmas came, and there were presents under the tree....but not a one with her name on it. There was a bag of coal in her stocking and that was it. It was VERY hard for me to keep from laughing, but I knew it was in my best interest.
Holy crap, she was PISSED. There was screaming and crying galore. Finally my parents got pissed too and informed her that her real presents were in their bedroom. I think she had to wait until that night to get them. I don't think my parents had a video camera at the time, but I wish they had it on video.