(Excerpted from “Is There a Santa Claus?” and reprinted from the September 21, 1897 edition of The New York 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. … 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. … 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.”
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Regardless of what you are doing on Christmas Day, you might consider doing what we do after the dust settles: a simple random act of kindness. Spread a little cheer to, among others, public servants, your 24-hour pharmacist or your favorite convenience store attendant, for example, that happen to be working that day. We’re likely to drop off baked goods. It won’t take long, and believe us when we tell you it makes you feel as good as the recipients do.
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Merry Christmas to you and yours from all of us at Current Publishing!
