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Friday, December 19, 2008

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

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

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 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 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 supernal 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.

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps. Thanks to Newseum for the information.

Monday, December 8, 2008

First snow of the season

I woke Sunday to a blanket of white on the ground and huge, fat snowflakes falling lazily from the sky. To say I was excited is putting it mildly (yes, I love snow). I grabbed my camera and headed outside and snapped a few pictures.











Thursday, December 4, 2008

Inside

The sky is black, no stars, no life
I gaze up and I wonder: does it all eventually turn black? Everything?
It smells like snow, and I pull my scarf tighter around my neck.
I can�t shake the feeling that someone is following me
and I keep glancing behind me, but there�s no one.
Maybe just my own ghosts are tracking me tonight.

Christmas has exploded in Salem

One of the perks of being unemployed is that I have a lot of time on my hands... And one of my "jobs" this week has been decorating for Christmas. We got our tree on Sunday and, thanks to my recent rearranging spree, we had to put the tree in the kitchen because we couldn't find a perfect spot in the living room / dining room. However, I went out and bought a smaller tree that fits perfectly in the living room window looking out on our patio. It's definitely a Charlie Brown tree, but I love it. I also bedazzled our mantel. Our entire house now smells like Christmas.