Santa Claus and Christmas

Hi Lewis, Isaac and Lincoln,

This I feel I must share with the 3 of you. It is all about Santa Claus and Christmas. Many especially those in the developed West have started questioning the existence of Santa Claus, that favorite of children who climbs down chimneys and deliver nice Christmas presents for children. It seems that has occurred as long ago as 111 years ago when Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to the New York Sun: Dear Editor - I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Clause. Papa says, 'If you see it in the Sun, it's so.' Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

It seems that Francis Pharcellus Church, a pastor's son and a senior writer at the Sun then gave a very good reply and it is that that I want to share with all of you. Here it is:

Virginia, your little freinds are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

Your tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all these strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.