December 24, 2021
Yes, My Friends, There is a Santa Claus
In 1897, Francis Pharcellus Church, an editorial writer for the New York Sun, wrote an iconic response to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon. Virginia wanted to know if there is a Santa Claus. I hope Mr. Church will forgive me for taking liberties with his work.
Yes, my friends, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and devotion exist.
Santa Claus lives in the beauty of twinkling lights and freshly fallen snow. He exists in joy, in friendship, and in compassion. He exists in our forgiveness and our redemption. When we truly care for others, he shows his face. He is with us when we remember the love we received from those who have passed, and when new life comes into the world.
He is generosity, in spirit and in actions.
How dreary and uncaring would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no friends. There would be no poetry and no romance to make tolerable this existence. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
No Santa Claus! Thank goodness he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, my friends, no, 10 times 10 thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of us all.
Merry Christmas.
Bruce Roney
President & CEO