From “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,” in Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience, by Shaun Usher:
“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 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 there are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Always brings tears to my eyes. A happy Christmas to you and yours!
The entire letter is really nice; I quoted my favorite parts, especially that last line.
Merry Christmas to you and yours also!
Merry Xmas, Dale!
Thank you, Robert Parker! 🙂 Hope you have a great holiday, Merry Christmas to you too!
Merry Christmas!!
Thank you, Dave! Merry Christmas to you too!