Hello everyone –
Today is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which began with the December Solstice at 9:59 AM (CST) this morning. The third and final installment of my Hollydaze Quotemail series features the Yuletide gift-giver who is most familiar in North America – Santa Claus. Despite the misappropriation of this beloved figure by commercial interests each December, Santa’s core message remains the same from one generation to the next, and it’s a message that isn’t limited to a single holiday or religion or culture or nation. Here’s how Fred Astaire summarized the message of Santa Claus in the closing narration of the classic Rankin-Bass holiday special, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1970):
“But what would happen if we all tried to be like Santa and learned to give, as only he can give: of ourselves, our talents, our love and our hearts? Maybe we could all learn Santa’s beautiful lesson, and maybe there would finally be peace on Earth and good will toward men.”
First of all, I’d like to share with you the most famous
newspaper editorial in American history – to remind us all that we have a wonderful
opportunity to share our stories, insights, and encouragement with a world that
stands in desperate need of HOPE. And now (drumroll, please) – without further
delay (cue the spotlight) – here’s the most famous newspaper editorial in
American history!
“Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus”
Source: http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
[Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the
editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an
unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis
Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper
editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies,
and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.]
“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.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET”
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 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.
You may 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.
In addition, here
are two classic poems to help us get ready for the Yuletide season that’s right
around the corner!
“Christmas
1867: Greetings from a Fairy to a Child”
By Lewis
Carroll (1832-1898)
Lady dear, if
Fairies may
For a moment lay
aside
Cunning tricks and
elfish play,
'Tis at happy
Christmas-tide.
We have heard the
children say —
Gentle children,
whom we love —
Long ago, on
Christmas Day,
Came a message
from above.
Still, as
Christmas-tide comes round,
They remember it
again —
Echo still the
joyful sound
"Peace on
earth, good-will to men!"
Yet the hearts
must childlike be
Where such
heavenly guests abide:
Unto children, in
their glee,
All the year is
Christmas-tide!
Thus, forgetting
tricks and play
For a moment, Lady
dear,
We would wish you,
if we may,
Merry Christmas,
glad New Year!
“The Oxen”
By Thomas Hardy
(1840-1928)
Christmas Eve, and
twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all
on their knees,”
An elder said as
we sat in a flock
By the embers in
hearthside ease.
We pictured the
meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in
their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur
to one of us there
To doubt they were
kneeling then.
So fair a fancy
few would weave
In these years!
Yet, I feel,
If someone said on
Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the
oxen kneel,
“In the lonely
barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used
to know,”
I should go with
him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be
so.
Quotemail will
return in early January 2022. In the meantime, here’s wishing all my friends
and followers a very merry hollydaze season, to be followed by a Happy New
Year! 😊
Cheers,
Rob
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