This year I made a trip to the Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre to get a picture of a child with Santa Claus. I intended to use the picture as the lead in to the annual “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” When I saw the faces of the three young sisters above light up as they approached Santa, a special chill went through my body. Sara-anne (6), on the left; Venessa (4), and Kiirsten (8) certainly knew who they were with at that moment. No one had to convince them that Santa exists. And as I looked into their eyes I too was convinced that there certainly must be a Santa Claus.

There are too many young children and adults in this world who remain sceptical of anything that they can’t see. Their friends or older brothers and sisters have informed them that Santa Claus is nothing but an imaginary character. When I was young I believed my friends and for a number of years I doubted Santa’s existence. In time, I even denied his existence. Then, as I grew older and had children of my own, I came to realize that people who only believe what they see are indeed unfortunate, miserable old souls who go through life in a very sad state of mind. They think that unless something has an explanation or can be clearly understood, it does not exist.

However, we all soon realize that in this great universe of ours we are but a tiny insignificant speck. Yet, as insignificant as we seem to be, each one of us in our own way adds to the sum total of this magnitude.

I looked at Sara-anne, Venessa and Kiirsten and I thought, “How can anyone not believe in Santa Claus?”

As I did the story about 6 year-old Kayla Bianchin, found elsewhere in this paper, I thought to myself, “How can anyone not believe in Santa Claus?”

When you look into the night sky and realize that we are one of billions and billions of other similar planets in the universe, you realize how insignificant we are in the whole picture. Yet when you read about the development of a computer transistor so small that 2000 of them can be put side-by-side and still not be as wide as a single strand of hair, you realize how remarkably advanced our human intelligence has become. I cannot comprehend how there can be hundreds of billions of other planets in this universe anymore than I can comprehend how a computer can perform 400 million calculations in the time it takes me to blink an eye! I cannot see these things, but I believe.

So it is with Santa Claus. We could stay up all night and never see Santa Claus. Does that prove that he doesn’t exist? Of course not. It just proves that nobody has ever seen him. We haven’t seen any sign of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, but does that prove that none exists? Of course not. It just proves that we haven’t discovered them yet. No one in their right mind would try to convince you that our planet contains the only life forms in the universe. That would be absolutely absurd! There has to be other planets with life on them, we just haven’t found a way to see them yet.

So to all the children out there in the world, no matter how old you may be, remember that Santa Claus will always live as long as people have love in their hearts and truly care for each other. As long as we can see the sparkle in a little child’s eye; the smile of joy that comes along with each new discovery of the natural beauty in this world; yes, as long as we remain children in our heart, Santa Claus will live. And thank God for that. For what a dreadful world it would be without childlike faith. The most beautiful things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

We don’t have to see Santa Claus to believe in him and to witness first hand the glory of the Christmas Spirit. Let’s keep Santa Claus alive so that we can all enjoy the blessings of this great season all year long.