Editorial page editor Tom Chulski received a complaint from a reader this week.

Shame on us, the caller pointed out, for printing a letter to the editor last Sunday that indicated Santa Claus is “just pretend.” What if small children read the letter?

It was an anonymous voice message, so we couldn’t defend ourselves. But I told Tom the letter didn’t bother me. Lots of people don’t believe in Santa Claus, I said, and that’s their right.

For myself, one little letter to the editor certainly can’t shake my faith in Santa Claus. And I suspect that’s the case with most believers.

Of course, no one has defended Santa Claus more eloquently than the Baltimore Sun, in its famous “Yes, Virginia” editorial first printed in 1897. You can read it here.

Merry Christmas.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 8:14 am and is filed under The Evening News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.