Dear Editor: 

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? 

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West 95th Street 

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except 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 his 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 external 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 in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you 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. 

You 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 the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. 

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. 

Unfortunately they are far too busy and too often forgetful of the journalism ethics of those times to care as he so obviously did.  Nope.. I am not going to start pontificating again  as I have done on some of my pages.. this is meant to be a happy Christmas Greeting Card for my visitors... no doom or gloom I promise !  'Nuff said.

Let me share with you something else I think is perfect for Christmas.  The following is simply wonderful and so appropriate for the season.
 
 

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas Day, and that is Keeping Christmas. 

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people and to remember what other people have done for you? 

To ignore what the world owes you,   and to think what you owe the world? 

To admit that the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, 
 but what you are going to give to life? 

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs  and desires of little children? 

To remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old? 

To stop asking how much your friends like you ... and ask yourself whether you like them enough? 

To try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you? 

To make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open? 

Are you willing to do these things even for a day? 

Then you can keep Christmas. 

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world -- stronger than hate,  and stronger than death?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful world if each of us  read those words carefully and made a concerted effort to apply them to our every day life  ... not just at Christmas but throughout the entire year? 

Another classic  which in today's fast paced world may not be considered  by many is the following.
Another favourite of mine. Do read it and perhaps even think for just a minute or two ... when did I last see my Mom and Dad ?

He little knew the sorrow that was in his vacant chair, he never guessed they'd miss him, or he'd surely have been there. He couldn't see his mother or the lump that filled her throat, or the tears that started falling as she read his hasty note.  And he couldn't see his father, sitting sorrowful and dumb, or he never would have written that he thought he couldn't come. 

He little knew the gladness that his presence would have made, and the joy it would have given, or he never would have stayed. He didn't know how hungry  his mother had grown  once again to see her baby and to claim him for her own.  He didn't guess the meaning of his visit Christmas Day or he never would have written that he couldn't get away.  He couldn't see the fading of the cheeks that once were pink, and the silver in the tresses, and he didn't stop to think  how the years are passing swiftly, and next Christmas it might be there would be no home to visit and no mother dear to see. 

He didn't think about it -- I'll not say he didn't care.  He was heedless and forgetful or he'd surely have been there. 

Are you going home for Christmas? Have you written you'll be there?  Going home to kiss your mother and to show her that you care?  Going home to greet your father in a way to make him glad? Just sit down and write a letter. It will make their heart strings hum  with a tune of perfect gladness if you'll tell them that you'll come.