"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.

I discovered the truth at seven years of age. About the same time I became aware that reality is far more interesting than fairy tales.

Otherwise read as, "We lied to our kids just to keep them happy"

Good going. Why not tell them there's an invisible man who made humans out of dust and will burn them forever if they're naughty. Errrr, wait...

Up until a couple of weeks ago, my 14 year old daughter still believed. She had seen too many Christmases where Santa left several presents, and she knew we didn't have much money (hubby was stay-at-home dad). I sold vacation days back for cash to get the money, and hit lots of clearance sales to stretch that money. My husband finally told her the truth when they were out going to a movie, because he didn't want her classmates to make fun of her. Her 10 year old brother still believes.

Hmmmm....I think I was 12 or 13. I don't remember it being traumatic or that I was angry. I just figured it out and accepted it. There was always that part in me that longed for that innocence where I truly believed. My kids believe. My oldest is 11. If she doesn't believe anymore, she is one heck of an actress. I have told her over and over that this year will truly be a small Christmas. Our Christmas budget was used up. But happy day we got a nice Christmas bonus. She is convinced that only Santa can make her Christmas what she wants. She is not an overly greedy child. She asks for little. I love that she still believes. One day she won't. And that is okay. I love what Santa represents. The spirit of giving. Joy. Love. what's wrong with believing in that?

Oh yeah, and shame on that woman.

Telling the truth obviously needs to be displined.

She may as well said he was dead.....Bummer...

I had a teacher that did the same thing, think it was grade 2 or 3..he was a grumpy old b*****d

I pretended like I believed for years, knowing it would get me more presents lol

Teachers are supposed to support the lies of parents. I am pleased that this teacher is now unemployed, will probably end up homeless, and possibly dead in a ditch.

A great victory for children's innocence indeed.

If she had said there was no God, would the uproar be the same? I would hope so. If parents have the right to encourage a belief in Santa, then they have the right to encourage a belief in God. That is being fair.
My kids do not believe in Santa, I am honest with them and tell them that their mother and father buy the presents and "pretend" there is a Santa because it's more fun that way. However they are also taught that other kids believe that Santa is real and not to attack their belief.
I never believed in Santa, because I grew up in Africa...you want to know how he travels around the world in one night??? He skips Africa...*sigh*

Well I don't believe in the public school system! :P

I like this article. Lying to your kids is going out of style. Christmas is magical enough without having to lie to your kids about Santa.

Parents get so mad at their children for lying. Why is it ok for parents to lie to their children, for any reason?

Please.

Show me ONE thing that is wrong with Santa.

Seeing your kids' eyes light up with amazement and joy Christmas morning can give you a renewed sense that maybe we won't all end up killing each other.

cargo cult for kids

I think the real offender here is that song "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

Now what is a six year old to think--you believe in Santa as a real person, you're not aware of the dramatic irony the lyrics present, and so apparently Santa's...doing your mother?

You let the Santa thing run it's natural cause IMO. Don't lie about it, treat it like you would any other "Lets pretend" game. My 5yo said he didn't believe Santa was real and then asked me, I told him no, he wasn't but we could pretend there was a santa if he wanted. Should I have lied to him?

Believing in Santa will no more help world peace than believing in a god will.

My relationship with my kids as evidenced in a material way at Christmas represents the spirit of giving, joy and love much more profoundly and in a real way then any imaginary old bearded man could.

I do find it interesting that the two Christians in the thread are Santa's main proponents. I kid, I kid :)

Oh and, nice to see you back Eljay, hope we see more of you.

Did I slip through your Christian radar? Ooops. I believe that Christmas is really more about Jesus Birth than Santa, or giving gifts, or eating Turkey...or trees. I actually find it interesting that atheists celebrate the birth of Christ. Do you also celebrate Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Ramadan? Really if you are anti-religion you should stop celebrating these major religious holidays. Make up your own!

No, I don't celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. I give my children gifts ect. I don't attend mass or partake in any other religious tradition.

I was raised a Jehovah's witness and never celebrated Christmas as a child as it's was against my parents beliefs. I feel I missed out, I don't want that for my kids, I don't impose my beliefs on them.

Christmas has less and less to do with Jesus by the year for the majority of people. For me it's a time to indulge slightly, spoil my kids and spend time with my family.

Do you celebrate Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Ramadan? Or do you pick and choose which holidays you observe? Not sure what your point was with this comment really.

Also, did you know that a large part of most "Christian" holidays are steeped in Pagan tradition and roots? Do you have a Christmas tree? It's origin can be traced to paganism.

Even the very date of Christmas, December 25th isn't even close to the supposed birth of Jesus. It's borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras’ birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with Mithras’ birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

So you see if you bothered to do a little research into the origins of your "Christian" holiday then you'd see it's far more inappropriate for you to celebrate Christmas then it is for me who has no belief in gods or religion or any allegiance to the christ you believe in.

How insulting to the christ you believe in to celebrate his birth on a date that wasn't even his supposed birth date but some other gods.

So maybe YOU should rethink celebrating Christmas if you truly are a Christian.