She was seven.
A petite, howly girl living in Hawaii.
The kids were making fun of her; but they made fun of her often.
They said there was no such thing as Santa Claus.
It weighed heavy on her little heart the entire day.
There was nothing more magical than him.
Were they just being mean, or could it be true?
She walked home so very sad, but determined.
Her mom would never lie to her.
She told her mom that she was old enough now.
She told her mom that she could handle it.
She could handle just about anything.
She just wanted to know the TRUTH.
So, her mom told her.
The truth, it CRUSHED HER.
Not because she thought the presents would stop.
Not because she had been lied to.
Not because of any real reason other than she has just lost that magic.
That feeling she had gotten every Christmas of her life when she thought there was a jolly old man and a team of reindeer flying overhead. She had heard them more than once right?
She thought she had maybe even seen them.
How could it all have been not true?
I think about how that sweet seven year old girl couldn't just accept it.
There HAD BEEN MAGIC.
The magic had always been there.
The magic of Christmas was true.
She had to believe in the magic.
She decided what she had to keep believing in was the magic.
The magic of Christmas.
It was the magic of the stars kissing your face and warming your heart.
I bet you think I never told my kids there is such thing as Santa.
If I tell you I did, will you think I was mean to give them that same disappointment?
To lie to them, when this memory of me at seven is such a strong one.
Silly, to think this was a major decision in their upbringing.
It was. But I decided in the end it was worth it.
Those years I believed in Santa created the magic.
It's the magic I STILL feel every Christmas eve when the hubs and I ARE SANTA.
It's the warm feeling that anything is possible if you just believe.
I tell myself there maybe once was a Santa.
That I am helping to carry out his spirit.
He's not a commercial thing that so many make him out to be to me.
He's magic.
And if I can give them that same belief.
That anything is possible if you just believe.
Then, maybe those minutes of disappointment would not matter so much.
do you know this story?
This letter was written in 1897.
Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, whether Santa Claus really existed.
O'Hanlon suggested she write to The Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that
If you see it in The Sun, it's so....
He unwittingly gave one of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question and address the philosophical issues behind it.
This is a true story.
The paper told her YES.
That's kind of magic too don't you think?
you can read more about it here
What would you do?
ps. I am over here today talking about keeping your bubble from bursting.
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