Today we focus on something that’s about as old as steam. Roughly 111 years old, in point of fact.

“Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.”

Having shied away from this particular news article the previous few Christmases, I feel now’s the time to tackle the beast. Yes Virginia is one of those special articles that made the cross from the real world into the works of fiction. Around this particular season, its exposure triples. It is so popular that Newseum has given the 1897 New York Sun article a permanent residence.

When I first heard of this article, I was just a Kid Groonk. I remember being fascinated by its artful prose. The fact that it was real only enhanced its power. Reading it now doesn’t hold the same meaning anymore. Which is why, I suppose, ABC news writer Michael Malone has seen fit to update the classic tale of Santa’s epic… elusiveness.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in e-mail, or electrons, or black holes. Nobody sees Santa Claus but that doesn’t mean there is no Santa Claus. No one has seen a quark either, or a computer bit, but that’s no proof they aren’t there. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor adults can see. Great new discoveries and wonderful acts of human kindness are made every day. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen or unseeable in this world.

[Read Malone’s entire article at ABC NEWS]

(via abcnews)