Many years ago, when the earth was younger than it is today and the naive innocence of Christmas was not yet completely entombed within plasticized bar codes and overshadowed by Black Fridays, there was a little girl whose understanding of her place in the universe was shaken to the core by a few simple words.
The paradigm-shifting words, spoken by someone who today would be deemed her BFF (because today, in contrast to the magical time to which I refer, initials have become more expedient than whole words), were something to the effect of: "Santa Claus isn't real."
(Thankfully, that has not yet devolved into SCIR - which, truth be told, could as easily mean, "Slow chapters in reverse," or perhaps, more profoundly, "Sudden change in relationship.")
But to get back to the story, Virginia's search for the truth of the matter - for indeed, if you haven't guessed it by now, the little girl's name was Virginia O'Hanlon - has become the stuff of legend.
Virginia wrote a letter to the most trusted source of information she knew: the newspaper.
In her letter, she asked a question that eventually comes to plague every child, usually somewhere between the ages of about five and nine years (Virginia was eight): "Is there a Santa Claus?"
There are lots of stories told about how the normally curmudgeonly editor (aren't we all?) who received the letter almost tossed it in the garbage, but the girl's plaintive tone somehow broke through his gruff exterior ... yadda yadda yadda...
In fact, the editor in question, Francis Church, almost certainly saw in Virginia's letter an opportunity to wax philosophical at enough length to fill a hole of questionable importance near the bottom of the editorial page.
We've all been there, we editors: someone says something, we read something, something happens that sparks a thought that becomes an idea that turns into written words on a page - sometimes clever, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes profound, sometimes, well ... you know.
This was just a knock-off piece ... but it struck a chord that has plucked at heartstrings ever since.
Church's response to Virginia's question, buried in the seventh slot on the New York Sun's editorial page, has become the most republished editorial ever.
World-wide.
Church didn't dismiss Santa: he neither placated Virginia's plea with stories of reindeer and toy factories at the North Pole, nor did he toss aside a child's innocent view of St. Nick's comforting place in a daunting world.
He simply suggested that Santa Claus is a manifestation of the goodness and kindness that exists - more or less - in all of us.
Every time we see a good deed or a happy outcome, he suggested, we're witnessing a bit of the reality that is Santa Claus.
Look around you: look at the people volunteering at food banks, watch them arranging Christmas hampers and collecting toys for kids.
That's Santa holding open a door for a stooped senior.
He's the one over there, smiling at a stranger.
He's writing cheques for the Cancer Society or World Vision or any of a host of charities staffed by more Santas doing their best to make the world a little more joyful.
Toss a toonie into the Salvation Army kettle on the corner ... there you go! Now you're a part of Santa, too!
There aren't a lot of Virginias in the world these days; it's just not as common a name as it used to be.
But, oh! See all the Santas!
Bob Groeneveld is the editor of the Langley Advance, a sister paper of the Burnaby NOW.
