My favorite part of Christmas is family, and it just so happens that this weekend our calendar is free, meaning we are going to revel in some uninterrupted family time! I hope you get a chance to do the same.
I'll leave you this weekend with a little something I just read. I've heard the quote, "Yes, Virginia, there Is a Santa Claus" but until this morning I had never read the editorial that made that line famous. I thought it was fun and whimsical and maybe even a little profound. Enjoy!
In 1897, a young girl wrote to the New York Sun asking whether Santa Claus truly existed.The paper's response, written by Francis P. Church, appeared in The Sun on Sept. 21, 1897.
Dear Editor: I am eight yars old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says 'if yousee 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 scepticism of a sceptical 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 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 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, 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.
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.
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2 comments:
Hi Angie,
I love reading about how you are doing the holiday season day by day. All are such good ideas and it looks like Marianne is loving it too. I am sure Adrienne is picking up on the energy and love. I am so happy for your blessings. I love you.
Laurie
Ahhh . . . it leaves me thinking how much more realistic and provable the life of the Lord Jesus is, yet so many in our world are trying to deny Him! How wonderful it would be to hear all the children of the world asking longlingly about the birth of Jesus, knowing that Christmas is filled with wonder, beauty, and awe because of Him!!!
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