{"id":56,"date":"2013-12-22T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T14:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/?p=56"},"modified":"2024-12-19T19:51:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T19:51:31","slug":"yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"YES VIRGINIA….THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In 1897 eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked her father whether Santa Claus really existed. Philip O’Hanlon suggested she write the New York Sun – assuring her “if you see it in The Sun, it’s so” Virginia wrote 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?<\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

On September 21, 1897 newsman Francis Church responded in a printed editorial titled – <\/em>Is There a Santa Claus<\/strong><\/em> assuring Virginia that yes there is a Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

I too have often wondered; if there really was a Santa Claus and if so what did he do during all the rest of the year. When I was a kid it was confusing when Christmas morning my brothers and I would find gifts left by Santa supposedly build by his elves at the North Pole…..but they came in box that said Wammo<\/strong> or Milton Bradley<\/strong>. For years I would lay restlessly in my bed at night wondering if Santa was real or was he a FRAUD.<\/p>\n

\"\"During a recent trip to the Dallas Farmer’s Market – I finally learned the truth! As I turned the corner to my surprise I was face to face with none other than old Saint Nick himself. When I spotted the wad of money in his hands I then realized why all my presents were not hand made by little men with pointed shoes – THEY RAN OUT OF TIME and Santa had to purchase additional presents at Montgomery Wards (pre-Toys-R-Us and Amazon). I also realized why every year Santa left us an orange in the bottom of our stocking every year – obviously there is a surplus of Florida Oranges at the North Pole!<\/p>\n

So as Francis Church wrote to Virginia in his editorial some 116 years ago…Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!<\/strong><\/em> Everyone knows the tooth fairy is real! (might be a good subject for a future blog)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually I have seen Santa on a big old red Harley during my travels! See ya down the road Nick\"\"<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas to all<\/p>\n

Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing<\/strong><\/em> Little Elf Judy (The Santa Clause 1994)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1897 eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked her father whether Santa Claus really existed. Philip O’Hanlon suggested she write the New York Sun – assuring her …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-holidays","category-santa-claus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-16-at-10.02.09.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2200,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/2200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusonthebackroads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}