Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. Growing up, we were never home – we hit the road for Kansas and Nebraska to visit our family. It was our tradition. I could hardly contain my excitement about getting to see my cousins and be around our extended family. There was never a lack of laughter, card games, yummy snacks, and delicious food. And on my dad’s side, everyone looked forward to Grandma’s famous homemade chicken noodle soup. Yumm!! Traditions are so comforting.
Now that I have my own little family, I’m eager to create our own traditions. I have so many visions of what they will “look” like. Of all the things I am eager to pass on to my girls; one of the most precious things is “wonder”. I want them to have a sense of wonderment with the season. Sure, we plan and hope to instill in our kids the importance of serving others, the true meaning of Christmas, and holding on to the Christmas spirit throughout the year instead of just between Thanksgiving and New Years Day.
My parents, like so many parents, kept the tradition of Santa Claus visiting our home each Christmas Eve. Oh, man, did I get excited! I promise you that I heard sleigh bells every Christmas Eve night long after I was supposed to be asleep. I was so full of anticipation that I could hardly contain it! Little did I know that there was a whole group of people out there that didn’t even talk about Santa Claus or introduce their kids to him. I will admit that when it dawned on me that there wasn’t really a man in a red suit that flew around the world each Christmas Eve, I was pretty sad.
Shortly after I realized this, I saw the movie, “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus”. That movie made the blow about Santa so much better for me. I still feel misty-eyed when I think about it. Do you know about this movie? It’s based on a real letter to the editor that a little girl, named Virginia, wrote in 1897. She was struggling with whether or not to believe in the jolly old elf. Here is the letter and response:
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Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say that there is no Santa Claus. Papa says "If you see it in the Sun, it is so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical 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 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 our 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 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 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 that 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, or 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 supernatural beauty and glory beyond.
Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else as real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children.
~ Written by Francis P. Church - September 21, 1897 - The (New York) Sun
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I know the guy in the red suit is not real. I know it. We all know it. This little letter represents so much more than saying to a girl that that man is real – and I believe that in her 8 year old mind, she knew the answer deep down. She was really asking if there was really goodness in the world – something that her very poor family had to struggle to feel.
To me, Santa isn’t about lying to my girls, or a guy in a sleigh flying around the world giving presents to each child. He is a tradition of honoring the real life man, Saint Nicholas, who indeed did good works and helped people (and kids!) see the goodness in the world, leading them closer to God. Sure his image and memory have been skewed beyond where it should be. But as a parent, I’m going to help my kids focus on the mystery and wonderment of the season each year (and hopefully the whole year through). I am confident that they will be able to understand that, and I hope that “Santa Claus” is a gateway for that childlike faith to blossom into something much, much greater.
(I post this not to throw
any more fuel to the Santa/No Santa argument, but rather because I love this
letter, the movie, and I feel it’s a sweet way to let a little girl know the
truth about “Santa”.)
Merry Christmas and Peace!
~M
