As we begin a spanking new year full of sparkly promise and possibility, thought I'd share some of the holiday fun that went down in my household this Christmas.  I always dreamed if I were ever lucky enough to have a daughter, she would have an annual holiday tea party to celebrate her, girlhood and the season, of course...and I decided the day after Thanksgiving that 2013 would be our inaugural year!  Even though I did wait until the last minute to order the invites and throw it together, it was more than great fun and we made some sweet memories! For decor, I gathered mismatched teacups and cake stands and all things vintage and pretty to build a magical tablescape complete with mini marshmallow "snow."  The theme was based on the circa 1897 story of eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon who wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun in an effort to determine if Santa Claus really existed.  Veteran newsman Francis Church quickly responded to her query with what has become the most reprinted editorial in newspaper history.  His bright words of wisdom and truth bring as much hope and glee to the world today as they must have to that discouraged little girl way back when. 

My girl Virginia gets extra excited at the thought of any kind of party or fanciness...especially if it involves dressing up and the fare includes, and is pretty much limited to, sugar + more sugar + simple processed carbohydrates.  The fabulous Newport Cookie Company in Newport, RI created unbelievable custom teacup and Santa cookies for me...the teacups actually had teabag strings and tags inserted into the icing...adorable!  And my kind friends at Table 301 rounded the menu out with peanut butter-honey finger sandwiches, cucumber dill tea sandwiches, fruit kabobs and fried mac-n-cheese bites (this is the south, y'all).

Virginia loved the idea of being "hostess" to her school and neighborhood friends (we've been talking about what being a hostess vs. a guest means...and how those roles are very different!). Let's say it's a work in progress...but she was delighted to greet her visitors at the door and welcome them into her home.  After some tea, hot cocoa and treats, our beautiful friend, Susan Edwards Willis not only captured some great photos throughout the day but took a break to read the Yes, Virginia book to us in her best New York accent.  My Virginia even blurted out from memory, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so!" 

We take pleasure in answering at once and 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
                                        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.

 

 ...And even I got teary-eyed when this fellow showed up...

I love this image with the nativity...that's my precious niece, Mayme who took a little while to warm up.

Whaaaaat?!  Believe it, babygirl!  He's as real as real can be! 

It WAS pretty wacky to have a celeb like him hanging out in my living room...but wonderful too!  And then it was time to say good-bye...until next year...

(His reindeer were around the corner...)

So, here's to believing... and a glowy, wonder-filled, tip-top 2014!  Cheers!