The Case for Santa Claus

I doubt eight-year-old Virginia understood the New York Sun’s answer to her query about the authenticity of Santa Claus. I read the famous article countless times as a little girl trying to grasp the editor’s justification that Santa Claus did exist, yet his reasoning always eluded me. The mystic, yet seemingly academic explanation that followed the simple answer, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” convinced me that while I, like Virginia, did not understand how it was possible, it must be true. 

Santa Claus does more than memorialize the historical monk St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. He embodies St. Nick’s spirit which is as alive today as the saint was in the third century. St. Nicholas lives within every giver at Christmastime. Yes, he does exist. However, there is a caveat. We must have first believed in our hearts as a child before we can understand with our minds as adults.