Yes, Virginia. There Is.

<p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">As a child, I had a very strong belief in Santa—so strong that when Sister Grace Miriam announced to our 3 rd grade class that there was no such thing as Santa I got into <span style="">&nbsp;</span>trouble telling her just how wrong she was.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Looking back it’s amazing that I held on as long as I did, especially considering that the Christmas Eve I was six I awoke around </span><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">midnight</span><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> to a lot of loud, un-Santa-like laughter and shouts.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>My parents had gotten my sister and I a playhouse that year, a sizable one into which several kids could climb.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It was made of cardboard and came with the kinds of flaps and inserts that have since made IKEA synonymous with multi-lingual swearing. </span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">Several of the neighbors on our block had ended up in my parents living room late that night and had been enlisted to help build the house.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The enticement was apparently a pitcher of manhattans.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The bourbon cleared their heads enough to get them past the “insert flap A into point M” –but not enough to clarify where they should stand when inserting the flaps and the result was that Mr. S. and Mr. G. ended up <em style="">inside</em> the playhouse.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The door was not big enough to let them crawl out. I believe it took another pitcher to get them out. </span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">I thought of them the year George and I remembered at </span><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">midnight</span><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> that we had left the <em style="">big </em><span style="">&nbsp;</span>present, a new television, at his apartment and we had to go out into the freezing cold to retrieve it.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>This was after hosting a lengthy Christmas Eve dinner party with a lot of champagne.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The damn TV was so big that it wouldn’t fit in the car.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>We drove over to my parents and broke into their station wagon, only to discover that it was out of gas.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>We ended up wrestling the TV out of the box in front of the apartment building and trying to shove it in the back seat.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>I said to George, “I feel as if we’re ripping off an appliance store”.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">We finally got it home and inside the living room at which point George had had enough and went up to bed.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It was 1:30 in the morning by then, so I pulled a blanket off the couch, threw it over the TV, put a bow on top and followed him upstairs.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">In the morning Wally and the Snapper said, “Nice wrapping job”.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>So the following Christmas when we bought them a <em style="">huge</em> set of free weights, George wrestled it to the front porch and left it with a note saying that union rules wouldn’t permit Santa to carry it in—let alone wrap it.</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">Anyway, despite surviving the playhouse and Sister Grace Miriam in 3 rd grade, I eventually learned the truth, and that Christmas Eve rolled around where I found myself outside the magic for the first time.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The rule in my parents’ house was that when you stopped believing in Santa, you could stay up and be a Santa’s helper on Christmas Eve.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>So I was up helping my parents lay out the many piles of gifts and after awhile I wandered into the kitchen, where my grandmother was starting in on Christmas Day dinner for the 30 or so usual suspects.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>My grandmother was a Hallmark classic, white hair and a soft Irish accent and always cooking in the kitchen.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">I stood there without saying anything until she finally asked me what was wrong. <span style="">&nbsp;</span>I said, “It’s just not the same anymore since I don’t believe in Santa.”<span style="">&nbsp; </span>And she turned away from the stove and said to me, “I still believe.” </span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">And then she went back to the turkey.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">Just like that.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>No explanations.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>No deconstructions of the myth.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">Just, “I still believe”.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">In that moment she gave all the magic of Christmas back to me.<span style="">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">I think of her every Christmas Eve when I’m caught up in dinner and wrapping and finding enough triple A batteries at eleven at night.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>I look around at the dishes and the presents and wrapping paper and the lights on the tree and the stockings on the mantel and think, “I still believe.” </span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">And I do.</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';">Merry Christmas.</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p> <p style=""><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Arial Unicode MS';"> &nbsp;</span></p>