August 21st, 2010
First Printed In the New York Sun, September 21,1897
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 95th Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think 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 all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus come 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 eles real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10 thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Impressive answer to Virginia’s question.
Merry Christmas 2010 to the little ones in our family, Deacon, Marli, and the new baby Miah, that will be arriving in October, and to the big kids, Gage, Tyson, Kayla, Alex and Chelsey!
Chelseys mom
August 21st, 2010
My husband has a massive stamp collection, but this is one I saved from the year Chelsey was born.
Chelseys mom
August 15th, 2010
A list prepared by George Washington of presents to give to his step children
five year old Jackie
and three year old Patsy
Christmas 1759
A bird on Bellows
A Cuckoo
A turnabout Parrot
A Grocers Shop
An Aviary
A Prussian Dragon
A Man Smoakg
A Turnbridge Tea Sett
3 Neat Turnbridge Toys
A Neat Book fash Tea Chest
A box best Household Stuff
A straw Patch box w. a Glass
A neat dress’d Wax Baby
Source: Readers Digest
That’s a lot of stuff for 1759, what is a man smoakg? Good for George for making the list, wonder if he did the shopping too?
Chelseys mom
August 9th, 2010
They started from the old farm gate
The happiest boys alive
With Rob, the roan, and Rust, his mate
And Uncle Jack to drive;
The snow was packed, that Christmas time
The moon was round and clear,
And when the bells began to chime,
They all began to cheer
Chime, chime, chime, chime—such a merry load
Sleighing in the moonlight along the river road!
They passed the lonely cider-mill
That’s falling all apart;
The hermit heard them on the hill
It warmed his frozen heart;
They cheered at every farm house gray,
With window panes aglow
Within the farmers wife would say
“Well, well I want to know!”
Chime, chime, chime,chime—such a noisy load
Speeding by the homesteads along the river road!
The river shone, an icy sheet,
As o’er the bridge they flew;
Then down the quiet street they flew
Their Christmas horns they blew;
The sober people smiled and said,
“We’ll have to give them leave”
(Boys will be boys) to make a noise,
Because its Christmas Eve!
Chime, chime, chime, chime, such a lively load
Scattering songs and laughter along the river road!
But now its growing hard to keep
Awake, and now it seems
The very bells have gone to sleep
And jingle in their dreams.
The lane at last—- the farm gate creaks,
And Grandma cries, ” Its Jack!
Why, what a peck of apple cheeks
These boys have brought us back!”
Chime, chime, chime, chime, such a hungry load,
Rosy from the Christmas ride, along the river road!
By Helen Gray Cone
When my Gram was a kid, her family went by sleigh to her Grandma’s house for Christmas.
That might be fun if you didn’t have to go to far!!
Thanks to St. Nicholas magazine for the old Christmas poem.
Chelseys mom
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August 5th, 2010
Oh, Summer has the roses
And the laughing light south wind,
And the merry meadows lined
With dewy dancing posies;
But Winter has the sprites
And the witching frosty nights
Oh, Summer has the splendor
Of the cornfields wide and deep
Where scarlet poppies sleep
And wary shadows wander;
But Winter fields are rare
With diamonds everywhere.
Oh, Summer has the wild bees,
And the ringing, singing note
In the robin’s tuneful throat,
And the leaf talk in the trees,
But Winter has the chime
Of the merry Christmas time.
Oh, Summer has the luster
Of the sunbeams warm and bright,
And rains that fall at night
Where reeds and lilies cluster;
But deep in Winter’s snow
The fires of Christmas glow
By Susan Hartley
December 1882
St. Nicholas magazine
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu./ufdc/?=juv
August 3rd, 2010
via Birthday Gifts Ideas – Ideas To Delight Your Loved Ones.
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July 28th, 2010
- White Christmas, sung by Bing Crosby is the best selling Christmas song of all time
- The first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday was Alabama, in 1836
- President Franklin Pierce was the first to decorate a Christmas tree at the White house in 1856.
- Montgomery Ward department store created “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”
- Rudolf was left out of Twas the Night Before Christmas
- Its A Wonderful Life has been played more than any other Christmas movie.
- Gingerbread houses came from Austria
- Traditional Ukrainians put a spiders web on the tree for good luck
- The Christmas plant viscum is used to label mistletoe
- Silent Night was written in 1818 by an Austrian priest named Joseph Morh, because of a broken church organ
- Austria issued the first Christmas stamp in 1937
- In Germany 1531, Christmas trees received their first written recognition
Chelseys mom
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July 27th, 2010
- Image via Wikipedia
From the Moravia Union Newspaper
Dear Santa Claus,
I am so elated over the gifts I recieved at Christmas time. I feel it is my duty to write and tell you how much I appreciate your favors and those of your “little helpers” who did labor so diligently to fulfill my every wish. Despite all argument to the contrary, there really is a Santa Claus. Lo, these many years have I been disillusioned believing you a myth, now I see the light, and my life has been made happier.
An old fashioned letter to Santa.
Chelseys mom
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July 18th, 2010
Chelsey’s second Christmas
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