Yes, Virginia

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"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? "VIRGINIA O'HANLON. "115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET." VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Source

Christmas Commercials

I really love Christmas Commercials - the sweet ones, the cute ones, the sentimental ones, the funny ones. Christmas Commercials almost set the season for me as much as decorations and Christmas movies. Commercials contribute to the expectation and excitement of Christmas.

I don't mind or think about "commercialism" because, to me, the Christmas season celebrates God's gift to His children on earth -- the gift of His Son, Jesus. Christmas commercials increase my awareness of the season and the reminder of this blessed anticipated gift - even if they are not advertising the gift of Jesus on their television commercials.

Of all the awesome Christmas commercials I can remember throughout my life, one commercial takes the cake for me. When a commercial makes you cry EVERY TIME you see it, you know it's a good one! Here is the best commercial from Publix:



Merry Christmas and Happy Christmas Season of Anticipation and Excitement!

Full of Memories

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! What a Thanksgiving full of memories!
Lexie found a new favorite place in the Vail condo...
"Is the turkey ready yet?"We indoctrinated Chris into the Sanden tradition of watching the movie PILLOW TALK... I say "watching the movie" but really, we talk through the whole movie... we quote the movie and say the lines with the characters... poor Chris! Mom and Daddy danced to one of the Doris Day songs.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner - in this picture, Daddy is on the phone with the Seattle Sanden crew -- my brother, Trent, his wife, Maria and their two kiddos, Jake and Ryan. Happy Thanksgiving!Chris and Lexie have their own games they play together.We attended the Beaver Creek Christmas Tree lighting on Friday night and it was a delightful event! It was hard to get a picture amidst the crowd - but there were candles, carols, poetry, gingerbread houses, Santa Claus and fireworks.
Beaver Creek just celebrated its 30th anniversary of the ski resort, and the MC asked how many people have been skiing Beaver Creek for the past 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?... when he got to 30 years... my parents were some of the only ones to cheer -- they remember skiing the year Beaver Creek opened.Thanksgiving is over -- Santa Claus is Coming To Town!Chris and I played Monopoly after the tree lighting... we tried that is... Lexie was all about this game. "What piece should I choose?""How much money do we start with?""I am NOT going to jail!!! Give me my $200 dollars!""I wanted to buy that property... don't even think about it!" (The thimble is under her paw.)Ready for the Michigan v. Ohio State football game with mom and dad's long-time friends, Dr. and Mrs. DeYoung.Unfortunately, our shirts didn't work!We had fun... but, of course, Michigan got creamed.I hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving! God bless as you embark on the Christmas season!

Braille Tests: DONE!

Saturday Test: Done!
Monday Test: Done!THANK YOU for the prayers through this process. It has not sunk in that my tests are finished -- partially since I've been fighting a losing battle against a headache all day. I won't know how I've done on then for a few weeks... but I felt really good about them.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Dear Ones!
(I can tell you the braille for that sentence if you'd like...)

The Easy Part

How do you feel about tests?
My dad always said "You've studied, you've worked hard... taking the test is the easy part." I didn't always agree with him (those years of middle school tests evoked more stress than ease) but after YEARS of tests... and more importantly, YEARS of STUDYING, I completely agree with him.Tomorrow, I will begin my 2 standardized tests in 48 hours (1pm Saturday-1pm Monday) PAR-TAY! :-D Prayers will be appreciated, but I feel prepared -- at least READY TO STOP STUDYING and put the pencil to paper (and braille writer to paper) and take it.Have a great weekend before Thanksgiving and my prayers are with you for safe travels and a restful and blessed Holiday.

Tomorrow Is...

OPENING DAY OF VAIL MOUNTAIN!!!
And we actually have snow! 7 Lifts and 550 acres are opening.
This weekend, I want to:BUT... instead, I will take one state test on Saturday and one state test on Monday... check out home many Braille contractions I've identified in the pictures below. All of these circles/squares/arrows mean that those letters have some rule that means they are not just spelled with the letters they have. There is some other rule I need to employ when transcribing this into Braille.HOPEFULLY, my diligence and hard work will pay off and by spending this weekend in test world, I will have the rest of the winter to enjoy the Vail ski season.And here's one picture just for fun... it's fun because this is as close as Lexie got to this candle. Lexie loves Vail too and is looking forward to seeing her grandparents (my parents) starting next week! AS SOON AS THE LAST TEST IS OVER!!!Happy Thanksgiving!

Little Things and Big Successes

So, I've already posted tonight, but I am EXCITED! Many people more blog-savvy than I may find this is totally lame... but I've wanted three columns to my blog - basically since I started blogging and never had time to figure out how to get it... and tonight I figured it out!

Also, I have wanted to learn how to label my posts for some time now... tonight I figured it out!!!

Also, I've been itching for a different look to my blog lately - I don't know that this will stick, but it's something different for the moment... and tonight I did it!

This has been a successful night for my blog -- this has not been a successful night to sleep. Time to give sleep a try and hopefully I'll be as successful as I've been at blog endeavors!

Oh, also, I didn't even realize I've hit 100 posts in 2010! This is post 101. Maybe a giveaway will be in my future to celebrate... but I will leave that for another day. :-D

Good night and good luck at the little things that make for big successes in your life!