Is There A Santa Claus?

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.

-Francis Pharcellus Church

[http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/]

Can you see the resemblance?

MOTHER...

...AND SON

Holly, Jolly Christian

Well it seems like most of our blogs are about Christian. There are at least 2 reasons: he's cuter than we are and he draws a bigger crowd. First we want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. When we look at the past year we realize we have so much to be thankful for this year. What makes us happiest are memories like this one:

Messin' with Christian

Christian is destined to buy a harley and ride with the wind in his face. Watch the video. You'll see how much he loves the "wind" in his face. This is the most interactive he's ever been. Until now we've gotten a few random smiles. But as you'll see in the video he is much more responsive to us now.

"Pumpkin" Potter

We had a ward Halloween party tonight and decided to get a little more creative with our pumpkin carving (last year was a disaster). Anyway, we thought this year wasn't so great too, but after we put the candle in this is what we got! Can you tell who it is?

Who is this guy?

Ok, so take a close look at this guy...did you see it? Wierd huh? Feel free to comment...I think we need to give him a name!

Conference Weekend

We went to Salt Lake for conference weekend. Although we didn't get to go in to any of the session we had a great time. Friday night we went to David's mission reunion. His old companions were surprised to see us walk in with a baby. Everyone thought Christian was adorable (especially in his "automatic sprinkler" onzie). To impress his mission buddies David made "Bolo de Mel" (Honey Cake, a staple of the Madeira Island). A portuguese guy there said it actually tasted like the real thing!

It was fun to see family. Everyone was very excited to see Christian (maybe us too). Our toilet flooded in the hotel room and the front desk made David plunge it himself (no janitorial staff at 1:00 am?). By the morning water had leaked about 2 feet into the carpet in the room. We switched rooms.

Some of our favorite topics from conference were Sister Beck's talk about mothers. She talked about "mothers who know" the gospel is true. We have both been blessed with such mothers. We also liked President Eyering's talk when he spoke about the importance of remembering the blessings the Lord gives us. To help us do better with this we've decided to keep a family journal (you'll see parts of it here on the blog).

We were invited to have Christian's baby blessing at the Duffy's cabin (thank you!). It was a wonderful experience. Sister Duffy made a very tasty dinner afterwords. We really enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Video of Baby Christian

Just trying to figure out some of this blog stuff...enjoy!