*smile*

Puppies in fajita bread? One more thing to smile about :)

Yes Virgnia, there is a Santa Claus

If you haven't seen or read this classic article yet, enjoy :)

A true story about the spirit of Christmas.

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Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

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

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 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 you 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 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, 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 lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

About the Exchange

Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

“Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

“It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.

“ ‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.

“He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.’ ”

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

Wednesday Confession...

... I have a huge crush on Little House on the Prairie's Charles Ingalls, played by Michael Landon.

I don't particularly care that he starred on a super old-fashioned Christian show, or that he was born in the same year as my Grandfather (1936); he was one hell of a hunk of everything good back in his prime. I don't know what the appeal is... maybe it's his "stylish" suspenders... or his potato sack pants... or perhaps it's the Farrah Fawcett'esque hairdo he's been rockin for pretty much his entire life. There's just something about him as that character....

Mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm! 

Just thought I'd share ;)

The committee trapped in my Brain folds

So tired and drained, but I can't sleep...  

Too many things going on,

the committee's going wild-

Discussing things like all that I saw, and did, and learned today,

the homework pile I've only just made a minor dent in,

the incessant journalling,

the gift giving at the end of this week

and the gift giving for Christmas...

Both of which are putting a strain on my trusty plastic cards-

Future dates and things to do,

Planning and anticipating

(I must sleep!)

Trying to tell myself to live in the now.

Let the "what if's" go unmentioned

and let the now's be appreciated to the fullest.

My committee is jumping up and down now,

it's hurting the inside of my head

and once again,

I must sleep.

I must.

Softly hushing the committee,

It's night-time now.

It's late

I must sleep.

There will be tomorrow committee,

but for now,

Shhhhhhhhhhh-

Girls are like...

Girls are like
apples on trees. The best
ones are at the top of the tree.
The boys don't want to reach for
the good ones because they are afraid
of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they
just get the rotten apples from the ground
that aren't as good, but easy. So the apples
at the top think something is wrong with
them, when in reality, they're amazing.
They just have to wait for the right
boy to come along, the one
who's brave enough
to climb
all the way
to the top
of the tree.

Poem retrieved from: http://phocks.org/stumble/girlsarelike.php

Sunrise, Sunset

Peace

Quiet

Recouperation.

Sunrise-

Life.

Refuel

Compose

Do I look okay?

Take my seat 

& navigate

through this concrete jungle.

Beams of sunlight

Permeating through the towering sky-scrapers

Speed

Rush

Hurry

GO.

Pause.

Here & Now.

Remember all that we are fortunate to have

Pause.

GO!

Smile inside

at the

World

People

Flora & Fauna

the Elements

the ever changing seasons

easing into one another so effortlessly.

Run here

Do that

Learn this

See, see, see

Do, do, do

Learn.

Grow.

Pause-

Here & Now.

Remember the others.

We are so fortunate.

Continuation 

until the Sun slowly falls

behind the horizon until it becomes

Night and the moon and the stars

take their place.

Love

Gratefullness

Appreciation

Life.

Peace

Quiet

Recouperation.

Cooperation & Fairness

A Sunday morning lesson on cooperation and fairness,

as demonstrated by Virgil and Vulcan.

:)

Made me smile; if they can figure it out, why aren't some humans able to? (The fairness section is especially cute when Virgil continues to re-give his white token).

Sponge Eyes!

Completely random picture, but it made me chuckle so thought I would post it... and since it's my blog, I can do what I want :)

That aside, I can't get over the immense amount of valuable information I've taken in with my very own eyes over the course of the last week. One week and a day into my placement; 3 weeks to go. My eyes and ears have become sponges and it's only just begun.

How will I ever close these information seekers with everything going on around me and inside my head.

The journey continues... 

:)