LETTER: Holiday tradition rekindles memory of newspapers’ role
December 10, 2024
To the Community:
This holiday season reminds me of the importance of the newspapers to my family.
I remember one year waking early on Christmas morning to my young daughter at my bedside. “I got a Barbie doll house from Santa, but I saw you and Daddy putting it together,” she declared.
I told her the newspaper said Santa Claus was real (channeling my best “Yes, Virginia.”) I explained that once you understood about Santa, you needed to help because as amazing as the man is, he could not supply toys to every girl and boy without help. I reminded her that each Christmas, we would adopt a family and purchase gifts for them. Our shopping for that family was a way of helping Santa. I challenged her that now that she knew the whole story she would have to help Santa also. She ran off satisfied with the answer and we did not discuss it for years.
My own mother once read me the story of 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon in 1897 writing to the editor of The New York Sun newspaper to ask if there was a Santa Claus. Virginia wrote that some of her friends said there was no Santa. “My Papa said if you see it in The Sun it is so,” she wrote. My local newspaper published The Sun’s reply every year during the holidays.
The editor’s reply scoffed at Virginia’s classmates, saying they were wrong. “They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age,” the editorial response said. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist…” (Read the entire exchange on this Library of Congress research guide webpage.)
The story is timeless and represents the power of journalism. I was the oldest and my mother told me I would have to help keep Santa’s secret and help out to make Christmas special for those around me.
Years later my daughter was writing an essay for a college application. The essay topic asked what was the best advice you received and how did you use it? I read her essay with tears in my eyes as she recalled the advice she received about helping Santa and adopting families for the holidays. She was accepted to the college she wrote the essay for. Now I take my grandson to shop for a child who needs toys, continuing the tradition.
The real story here is the power of journalism. I have always enjoyed a real paper newspaper to hold while I have my morning coffee. I have adjusted to reading the stories and events on my phone or computer. I do like that I can find events, news, and details about community happenings just by going to the Waterbury Roundabout website. The news continues to be as real and honest as it was when Virginia’s papa told her “If it is in The Sun it is so.”
This holiday season, consider how important the Waterbury Roundabout is to our community. Readers can be Santa by going to the website and making a donation.
Let’s keep traditions going.
Gwenna Peters
Duxbury