'Yes, Virginia. There Is A Santa Claus': Is The Most Famous Editorial In American Journalism. But What Happened To The Eight-Year-Old Virginia?

W. Joseph Campbell at Media Myth Alert offers a piece on what happened to the eight-year-old girl who wrote to her newspaper and asked the editor if there were a Santa Claus. The newspaper's response, written by Francis Pharcellus Church, is iconic. 

Virginia O’Hanlon was 8-years-old when she gained a measure of fame that would last her lifetime.

Shortly after her birthday in July 1897, young Virginia wrote to the New York Sun, posing the timeless question: “Is there a Santa Claus?”

It took several weeks, but her innocent letter gave rise to the most famous editorial in American journalism. The Sun answered Virginia’s query on September 21, 1897, in an essay destined to become a classic.

The essay was assigned an inconspicuous place in the Sun, appearing in the third of three columns of editorials beneath the headline, “Is There A Santa Claus?”

Its most memorable passage sought to reassure Virginia–and, as it turned out, generations of youngsters since then.

“Yes, Virginia,” it declared, “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.”

You can read the rest of the piece and watch Virginia O’Hanlon on TV with Perry Como via the below link:

https://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/what-became-of-virginia-ohanlon/

You can also read about the letter and the editorial at the Newsmuseum via the below link:

 http://www.newseum.org/exhibits/online/yes-virginia/

My Crime Fiction: 'Twas A Crime Before Christmas'

As the Christmas season is upon us once again I thought I would offer a link to my short story Twas a Crime Before Christmas.

As a crime reporter and columnist, I was compelled to look into a report of a burglary of an unemployed construction worker on Christmas Eve in South Philadelphia.

 The burglar or burglars broke into the home early on the morning of the 24th. They stole the family’s TV and other household goods. They also took a dozen or so wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree that were intended for the family’s two children.

I interviewed the victim, who was so devastated by the burglary that he could hardly speak. I also spoke to a detective who said he presently had no leads on the case but he planned to keep working it, and I spoke to a local priest who told me that the church was collecting donations for the poor family.

Lastly, I spoke to a man of great wisdom and experience. The jolly old fella was kind enough to pause during his special night out to talk to me about crime.

I interviewed Santa Claus as he was packing up his sleigh and getting ready to head off on his magical trip, bringing toys and goodies to good children around the world.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his chin was white as snow. His eyes twinkled and his dimples were merry. His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. He looked like a candidate for a heart attack.

And he smoked. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath (the Surgeon General would not approve). He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot (PETA would not approve) and his clothes were tarnished with ashes and soot (Mrs. Santa would not approve). With a lumpy sack over his shoulder, he looked like a homeless person.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/12/my-crime-fiction-twas-crime-before.html

Merry Christmas.

We Have The Watch: NORAD Tracks Santa's Christmas Eve Journey

Terri Moon Cronk at DoD News, offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2014 - Now a 59-year tradition, the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will follow Santa Claus's Christmas Eve travels using radar, satellites, jet fighters and special cameras, said Air Force Master Sgt. Chuck Marsh, spokesman for the NORAD Tracks Santa program.

First, the northern warning radar system covers nearly 50 installations across northern Canada and Alaska to closely monitor signs of when Santa leaves the North Pole in his flying-reindeer-powered sleigh, Marsh explained.

Next, the geosynchronous orbit satellite system begins tracking Santa's route, 22,000 miles above earth, using infrared systems that detect heat to pick up the warmth generated by Rudolph the reindeer's red nose, he said.

Finally, Canadian NORAD CF-18 fighter pilots take off from Newfoundland and welcome Santa and his reindeer to North America, where American NORAD jet pilots escort him in F-15s, -16s or -22s, Marsh said.

Santa Cams Keep Kids on Course

That's when the high-speed, digital Santa cameras positioned around the world pick up St. Nick at about 3 a.m., MST and 5 a.m., EST Christmas Eve, Marsh said. Pictures and videos from the cams are loaded onto the Santa tracker at http://www.noradsanta.org/.

That's when the fun begins.

Volunteers take their positions at 4 a.m., MST, and 6 a.m., EST at the NORAD operations center to field children's phone calls at 1-877-446-6723 or 1-877-HI-NORAD in eight languages -- English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.

Children can then watch as Santa starts his trek from the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, travels west, and moves up and down the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Weather conditions may cause Santa to vary his course.

Volunteers Get Caught in Excitement

The volunteers work two-hour shifts but usually stay longer out of excitement, said Marsh, adding, "We couldn't do this without them."

Volunteers also talk to children all around the world from NORAD all around the world by email at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Google-Plus and even via OnStar operators.

"We're expecting more than 1,250 American and Canadian uniformed personnel, [Defense Department] civilians, family members and members of the local community to volunteer their time Dec. 24 to answer the thousands of phone calls and emails that flood in," Marsh said.

Last year, the NORAD Tracks Santa operations center had nearly 20 million website visits from people in 234 countries, 1.45 million Facebook "likes," and more than 146,000 Twitter followers, Marsh said.

Volunteers received more than 117,000 phone calls during the 23-hour timeframe, he said, and responded to more than 9,606 emails and some 800 inquiries through OnStar.

Kids Ask Everything

Children ask volunteers lots of questions about Santa's whereabouts, whether he goes to every house in the world, and how he gets all the presents delivered in one night.

"NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa doesn't experience time the way we do ... but in his own space-time continuum," Marsh said. "It seems like 24 hours to us, but it's days, weeks and even months to Santa, because he wouldn't want to rush the important job of delivering gifts and spreading joy."

Some children want to know Santa's age, Marsh said.

"It's hard to know for sure," he said. "But he's at least 16 centuries old."

The volunteers also advise children that Santa delivers presents between 9 p.m. and midnight, so it's important for them to be asleep when he arrives, Marsh said.

No Need to Wait for the Fun

As Christmas nears, children and their families can take part in new age-appropriate games every day on the website, watch movies, listen to holiday tunes by the Air Force Academy Band and read about Santa, the history of his ancient sleigh and the holiday traditions of other countries.

NORAD's Track Santa program is DoD's largest community outreach program, and this year about 60 organizations' contributions will make the program possible, Marsh said.

"We're very proud of our mission [at NORAD and NORTHCOM] and we're good at it all -year long," Marsh said. "But we love the opportunity this time of year to be able to say to everyone, 'Sleep tight. We have the watch.'"

Note: In the above U.S. Air Force photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Chuck Marsh volunteers monitor phones and computers to talk with children while tracking Santa Claus at the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa Operations Center at Peterson Air Force in Colorado.  

My Crime Fiction: 'Twas A Crime Before Christmas'

As the Christmas season is upon us I thought I would offer a link to my short story Twas a Crime Before Christmas.

As a crime reporter and columnist, I was compelled to look into a report of a burglary of an unemployed construction worker on Christmas Eve in South Philadelphia.

 The burglar or burglars broke into the home early on the morning of the 24th. They stole the family’s TV and other household goods. They also took a dozen or so wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree that were intended for the family’s two children.

I interviewed the victim, who was so devastated by the burglary that he could hardly speak. I also spoke to a detective who said he presently had no leads on the case but he planned to keep working it, and I spoke to a local priest who told me that the church was collecting donations for the poor family.

Lastly, I spoke to a man of great wisdom and experience. The jolly old fella was kind enough to pause during his special night out to talk to me about crime.

I interviewed Santa Claus as he was packing up his sleigh and getting ready to head off on his magical trip, bringing toys and goodies to good children around the world.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his chin was white as snow. His eyes twinkled and his dimples were merry. His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. He looked like a candidate for a heart attack.

And he smoked. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath (the Surgeon General would not approve). He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot (PETA would not approve) and his clothes were tarnished with ashes and soot (Mrs. Santa would not approve). With a lumpy sack over his shoulder, he looked like a homeless person.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/12/my-crime-fiction-twas-crime-before.html

New York Guard To Help Track Santa

The New York Guard offers the below piece:

ROME, N.Y., Dec. 23, 2013 - New York Air National Guardsmen from the Eastern Air Defense Sector here will play a key role tomorrow night as the North American Aerospace Defense Command tracks Santa Claus and his reindeer on their annual global Christmas Eve journey.

"NORAD has supported Santa Claus' Christmas Eve operations for more than 50 years and we are always delighted to help," said Air Force Col. Dawne Deskins, EADS commander. "I can assure everyone that EADS will do everything in its power to assist Santa with his critical mission."

EADS' Sector Operations Control Center here will monitor Santa constantly as he travels across the eastern U.S. delivering toys and gifts. These activities are in support of the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., which leads the Santa monitoring effort.

NORAD starts its Santa tracking operation at 7 a.m. EST on Dec. 24. Children and parents can call the NORAD operations floor at 1-877-446-6723 for live updates on Santa or track Santa on the Web at www.noradsanta.org. The operations floor can also be contacted via email at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.

Santa Tracking information is also available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/NORADTracksSanta?feature=watch; on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/noradsanta and on Twitter https://twitter.com/NORAD_SantaC.

The Santa tracking tradition started in 1955 when a Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Sears Roebuck & Company advertisement encouraging local children to call Santa listed an incorrect phone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number went into to the Continental Air Defense Command's operations hotline. Col. Harry Shoup, the operations director, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given location updates and a tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created the bi-national air defense command, North American Aerospace Defense Command, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is headquartered at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. Staffed by active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment, the unit supports NORAD's integrated warning and attack assessment missions and U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense mission.

EADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the eastern United States and directs a variety of assets to defend 1 million square miles of land and sea.

Note: The above photo was released by the New York Guard.

NORAD To Track Santa's Journey

 

Terri Moon Cronk at the American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2013 - On Christmas Eve, tens of thousands of children around the globe will gather around their family telephones and computers to track the path of Santa Claus as he makes his rounds delivering gifts on his sleigh led by tiny reindeer.

On the receiving end of the emails, phone calls, mobile "NORAD Santa" applications, website trackers, Facebook followers, Tweets and other social media inquiries into Santa's journey will stand a cadre of 1,250 volunteers to field children's questions at the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. NORAD has conducted the Santa tracking program for 58 years, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis, a NORAD spokesman.

"The program has its own life," Lewis said of the "NORAD Tracks Santa" mass appeal that's often handed down in families from generation to generation. The program's website offers games and other activities for children until Dec. 24 when the tracking Santa tracking map goes live, he said.

When the website goes live, other tracking methods via satellite, ground-based radar and "fighter jets" also spring to life, Lewis said. Sirius radio will also give a live-feed rundown of Santa's journey, he added.

Children ranging in age from 4 years old to early teens contact the "NORAD Tracks Santa" call center at 877-446-6723, Lewis said. Typically, the younger ones want to know when Santa will arrive at their houses, where he is at that moment, and what kinds of gifts he has in his sleigh.

Sometimes children want to know how Santa can deliver presents around the world so quickly.

"Santa travels at the speed of starlight," Lewis said. "And he's got the ability to circumnavigate the globe and do his mission with the speed and accuracy that nobody's ever seen."

NORAD routinely performs aerospace warning and aerospace control missions 365 days a year, and that's where the "fighter jets" come into play when Santa approaches his first stops in the Northeastern Canadian provinces, Lewis explained. From there, he goes around North America, then north to south and back and forth along the poles, making deliveries as he goes across each of the time zones, he said.

"[Canada] has the 'pilots' this year who will take on the 'fighter jet' mission, and as Santa makes his approach into North America, [the 'jets'] go up, make sure it's him, verify it on the flight plan that he gave us and let him go on his way," Lewis said.

As Santa makes his rounds, the call center volunteers tell the children they must be asleep between 10 p.m. and midnight before Santa can bring their presents.

"A lot of times when we tell the children what time it is they say, 'That's really close to now!' and you'll hear the phone just drop as they run off to bed," Lewis said.

The military and civilian volunteers work in two-hour shifts from 3 a.m., Mountain Standard Time Dec. 24 to 3 a.m. Christmas day, he said. Responses are available in eight languages -- English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.

"In just the call center alone, volunteers do anything from social media posting, pushing out tweets all night, posting on our Facebook page, and answering phones -- which is the largest percentage of [the shift] -- and they answer emails," Lewis said.

During Christmas in 2012, more than 1,250 volunteers in the "NORAD Tracks Santa" call center fielded about 114,000 calls and nearly 11,000 emails from children, NORAD figures show.

The website had 22.3 million visitors from 235 countries and territories across the globe during December, and the program's Facebook page grew to more than 1.2 million followers.

More than 129,000 people also tweeted about Santa's journey on Twitter, and cell phones downloaded 1.5 million applications. Altogether, 25 million people around the world followed Santa's journey in real-time on the web, on their mobile devices, by e-mail and by phone in 2012.

The program began in 1955 when a local newspaper ad directed children to call Santa directly, but the number was a misprint. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the crew commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Operations Center. Since 1958, Lewis said, NORAD has carried on the tradition.

The program is paid for by 55 corporate contributors, Lewis said.

"We have people calling all the time to help," he said. "We just could not do this without the volunteers."

The volunteers sign up for "NORAD Tracks Santa" for a good reason, Lewis said.

"It's the joy of the season in your heart," he said. "When you get the first few phone calls from these kids and hear the innocence in their voices ... if you step back and take it all in, it's incredible."

My Crime Fiction: "Twas A Crime Before Christmas"

The below short story first appeared in The Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine in 2009:

As a crime reporter and columnist, I was compelled to look into a report of a burglary of an unemployed construction worker on Christmas Eve in South Philadelphia.

The burglar or burglars broke into the home early on the morning of the 24th. They stole the family’s TV and other household goods. They also took a dozen or so wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree that were intended for the family’s two children.

I interviewed the victim, who was so devastated by the burglary that he could hardly speak. I also spoke to a detective who said he presently had no leads on the case but he planned to keep working it, and I spoke to a local priest who told me that the church was collecting donations for the poor family.

Lastly, I spoke to a man of great wisdom and experience. The jolly old fella was kind enough to pause during his special night out to talk to me about crime.

I interviewed Santa Claus as he was packing up his sleigh and getting ready to head off on his magical trip, bringing toys and goodies to good children around the world.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his chin was white as snow. His eyes twinkled and his dimples were merry. His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. He looked like a candidate for a heart attack.

And he smoked. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath (the Surgeon General would not approve). He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot (PETA would not approve) and his clothes were tarnished with ashes and soot (Mrs. Santa would not approve). With a lumpy sack over his shoulder, he looked like a homeless person.

I asked Santa Claus if the public’s fear of crime had changed how he did his job.

“The increased use of car and home burglar alarms makes my journey tougher, I must say,” Santa said. “As you know, my miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer make such a clatter, they set off every car alarm on the block.”

Santa also said that home burglar alarms has made his surreptitious entry, via the fireplace, most difficult. When he slides down the chimney, he sets off alarms, which wakes the household and brings the police.

Santa went on to say that the alarms ruin the surprise for the children and he is often detained by the responding police officers, who demand identification and administer alcohol tests.

Fortunately, Santa looks like a right jolly old elf, so the police officers have to laugh, in spite of themselves. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head give the people who thought they were being robbed the knowledge that they had nothing to dread.

“I once had my sleigh and reindeer stolen while I was in a home setting up the toys, and I must admit that I paused to enjoy the milk and cookies that a child left me,” Santa said. “But with some kindly police officer’s help, I was able to recover the sleigh and reindeer rather quickly. You see my lead reindeer has a bright red nose and we were able to spot him from about three blocks away.”

Santa said his brush with crime made him understand why families were installing burglar alarms and why they were more concerned about a strange old fat man in red entering their home in the middle of the night. He told me that he was looking into some kind of security system for his sleigh as well.

I asked him about the burglary that occurred that morning in South Philly and he replied he was well aware of the sad incident.

“I plan to visit the house tonight on my rounds and with a little magic I’ll leave them some special gifts under their tree,” Santa explained. “I also did a little investigative work to find the crooks, as I have powers the police lack."

Santa said he discovered who the crooks were and he tipped the police off. He also plans to leave the crooks lumps of coal in their stockings, which will be hung with care in the local jail.

“Don’t they know I’m watching?” Santa asked. ”I know when they have been naughty or good. My surveillance techniques are finer than the FBI’s.”

“This should be a joyful time of year as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ,” Santa said. “This should be a time of love, charity and good cheer.”

The interview concluded, he sprang to his sleigh and to his team gave a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

(With apologies to Clement C. Moore and my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all)

© 2009 By Paul Davis