31 Days of Christmas – Day #23

Is There a Santa Claus?

(The most famous editorial ever written is the one entitled, “Is There a Santa Claus?” It has been reproduced in every conceivable form and in every quarter of the globe, since it first appeared in the New York Sun in 1897. The question was raised in a letter to the paper by 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon of New York City, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Phillip F. O’Hanlon. The classic answer was written by Frances Church, an editorial writer at the paper. Church undertook the assignment with reluctance, the story goes, but his fine craftsmanship produced an article that has endured and will continue to endure as long as children ask, “Is there a Santa Claus?”)

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

“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 the 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 his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole 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 child-like 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 Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign 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 who ever lived, could tear apart.
Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

(So, is believing in Santa at the heart of Christmas? Of course not! But Frances Church struck a chord in the hearts of millions because he understood the power of faith. Childlike faith and wonder, open our eyes to all the joys of the season — especially to the Child who was born in Bethlehem.)