The Big Question This Time of Year: Is There a Santa Claus?

Do parents live in dread of the big question? "Mommy...Daddy...Is there really a Santa Claus?"

I only remember how we handled that with one of our children. There was a wonderful Santa at a local nursery who would ask the parents of growing children if they wanted him to share about Santa's true role at Christmastime. He told the children that Santa was the clown of Christmas and then shared a snow globe nativity scene and told them about the birth of Jesus. I don't remember our son being upset. Perhaps he already knew. 

Now at the age of almost 79 I think about the "big question" and wonder how I'd handle it today. I think I would suggest that every big question deserves study. So I would suggest we watch Miracle on 34th Street and see how one mom decided to always tell her child the absolute, literal truth. Is there a real Santa? She (Doris)  told her daughter Susie no, but through the faith and love of Kris, played magically by Edmund Gwenn, Doris changed her mind.

And then, after watching the movie, I would tell my child about the little girl, Virginia O'Hanlon whose daddy suggested she write to the New York Sun and ask him her question. And so she did. Frank Church wrote a response that has become a classic:

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
New York City

Frank Church wrote this famous editorial in response: 

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 no children or 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 or unseeable in the world……

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.

I would ask my child these questions. Are only those things real that can be observed, measured, weighed, and graphed? Some scientists think so. But what about those realities that science can say nothing about: love, honor, faith, beauty, honesty, integrity, love? Many of these things are not only more real, but the most important realities.

Does Santa exist? Of course he does. He was and is a real person, St. Nicholas of Myra. Did he give gifts. Yes! Does he need our help today to continue that tradition of love and generosity? Yes! Does that make Santa less real? Of course not!

What else do I believe in? The Easter Bunny, fairies dancing in the forest, the Tooth Fairy, dragons, Middle Earth, fairy tales, the one ring to rule them all. Aslan and the land of Narnia. They are all real because they teach the things that are most real of all. Chesterton knew that. One of my favorite quotes is this:

Yes, Virginia and Tommy and Susie and Billy and all the children of the world, there is a Santa Claus. Every one of us is called to bring him to life by our actions, not just at Christmastime but every day. Who can I be Santa for today: a lonely person in a nursing home, a friend far away, someone in prison or a soldier in a war zone, a confused young adult searching for the meaning of life? We need a million Santas every day. I think that will be a new year's resolution for me. Who can I be Santa for today: a family member, a stranger, someone far away or close to home? The reality strikes me that being Santa for others will make me like the Santa kneeling before the crib which is where we all belong.

May Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever!