Sheryl's Holiday Site: Merry Christmas

Kitty Christmas
Sleigh Ride   Christmas Time



Happy Holidays

|Christmas|   |Hanukkah, Kwanzaa & Other December Holidays|
|Christmas Stories|   |Christmas Music|
|Christmas Screensavers|   |Christmas Shopping|
|Holiday Graphics|

Christmas Gifts


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Christmas Links

Here's some wonderful links to Christmas sites with things to do and see!

Happy Christmas
Santa Claus Costumes
Doggie Wonderland humorous :)
How To Wrap A Gift humorous :)
A Cats Christmas humorous :)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Christmas.Com
NorthPole.Com
Santa.Com
Home Page for the Holidays
Christmas on the Web
Santa's Workshop
Countdown to Christmas
Santa Tracker
Christmas Celebration
AHA! Software's illustrated Christmas trivia quiz
Christmas with Reader's Digest
Billy Bear's Christmas for Kids
Radio Santa Claus
A World Wide Christmas Calendar
123Greetings: Free Electronic Christmas Cards
Free Christmas Greetings FranklinMall.Com

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Hanukkah, Kwanzaa & Other December Holidays

Christmas is not the only holiday in December!
Visit Chanukah - Festival of Lights, from Virtual Jerusalem;
the Kwanza Information Center from MelaNet; or
learn about other Winter Festivals from the Past and Present!

Hanukkah
Chanukah - from Virtual Jerusalem
Chanukah On the Net
Hanukkah Guide
Hanukkah - Festival of Lights
123Greetings: Free Hanukkah Greeting Cards!
Kwanzaa Information Center
Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration
Everthing About Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa Recipes
Winter Festivals from the Past and Present

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Christmas Stories

I've provided links to Christmas stories here.
Many of these sites have links to more.
Below the links, I have the story "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"

Luke 2:8-14
Christmas Stories and Poems
including The Night Before Christmas

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
The Gift of the Magi
The Original Christmas Story
A Religious Christmas
The Visits to Summer: A Christmas Story
Legend of The Christmas Cat
Christmastime Celebration Stories
A Christmas Story by Jay Frankston
Olive, The Other Reindeer

The Night Before Christmas   The Christmas Box Collection : The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and the Letter   Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol





Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

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

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except 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 external 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 you 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 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, 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 lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.



About the Exchange

From The People's Almanac, pp. 1358-9.

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O'Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

"Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn't any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

"It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, 'If you see it in the The Sun, it's so,' and that settled the matter.

" 'Well, I'm just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,' I said to father.

"He said, 'Go ahead, Virginia. I'm sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.' "

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents' favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, "Endeavour to clear your mind of cant." When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl's letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

"Is there a Santa Claus?" the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O'Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master's from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.



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Christmas Music

Holiday Sheet Music

For your enjoyment, I've got a small collection
of Christmas midi's for you here. Just click on them to hear them.
If you need more, follow the midi links below them!

Sleigh Ride
Christmas Time
White Christmas (jazz version)
White Christmas (orchestral version)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (different arrangement)
Silent Night
Silent Night (light rock version)
Christmas is Coming
Silver Bells
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Hallelujah Chorus (jazz version)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Oh Come All Ye Faithful (jazz version)
Jingle Bells (banjo version)
O Holy Night

Christmas MIDI files
Christmas Songs
Merry Christmas from the MIDI Farm
SJK's Christmas Song & Lyrics Site
Songs of the Season
MIDI Parlour Christmas Music
An Online Christmas Songbook

Carpenters Christmas   Christmas Songs By Sinatra   The Christmas Song: Nat King Cole

Search:
Keywords:
In Association
                       with Amazon.com

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Christmas Screen Savers

These screen savers are shareware.
Some are downloadable from this server, while others are from remote servers.
Please enjoy them! Understand that I did not write these programs.
Even in the Christmas spirit, I can't provide technical support for them.
Thanks!

Santa & His Sleigh Screen Saver 345 kb
Coca-Cola Ski Bears Screen Saver 64 kb
Christmas Tree Screen Saver
Snowflake Screen Saver
Santa and Rudolph walking on tiptoe
Santa Spaceship Screensaver
Christmas Ornaments & Holiday Giftwrap Christmas Savers
Puzzle Screen Savers Santa, Frosty, Snowy Bear and more

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Christmas Shopping

Personalized photo Christmas Cards your friends and family will love!
Amazon Home for the Holidays
Toys "R" Us
Christmas Cards
National Christmas Tree Association
Christmas Forest
The Ornament Shop
Murano Art Glass
Floral Gifts
Touch of Class
Do You Hear What I Hear? Christmas CD Reviews
Sports Gifts
Star Trek Books, Video, Music & Collectibles Store
Sherlock Holmes Books, Video & Music Store

The Night Before Christmas   The Christmas Box Collection : The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and the Letter   Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol

Search:
Keywords:
In Association
                       with Amazon.com


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Holiday Graphics

Need holiday graphics to spice up your website?
Visit these nice folks who make pretty graphics and
allow you to use them for your website
please follow their copyright rules!

Christmas Clip Art
Animated Christmas Gifs
Holiday Village
Chanuka Graphics

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animated Christmas tree

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