So you don’t believe in Santa? I find that very thought unbelievable!

You mean to tell me that you refuse to think that there is a jolly, immortal man in a red suit, who lives at the North Pole?

Who has flying deer and other magical powers that allow him to travel around the entire world in one night, delivering toys and happiness to children everywhere?

You don’t believe that he has a team of skilled elves that work year-round making toys and keeping up with who has been naughty and who has been nice? I simply can’t believe it.

Yes, dear reader, there is a Santa Claus. And maybe you’re right, maybe he does not exist in the magical way we, as a culture, depict him. As a matter of fact, I would be highly surprised if he did, but Santa Claus exists nonetheless.

There is a spirit in the world at this time of year, a spirit of family, friendship and giving. Maybe that is Santa Claus. When you smile at a stranger on the street, or give somebody that last piece of pumpkin pie, maybe that is Santa Claus. To be sure, I am hard pressed to describe what or who Santa Claus is, but I know it when I see it or experience it.

As the New York Sun noted in their famous letter from September 21, 1897;

“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.”

So yes dear reader, there is a Santa Claus. He lives inside each one of us, spreading joy and love, especially through the holiday season.