Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus (The Twelve Blogs of Christmas 2015)

Four Calling Birds...

​Yes Virginia!

I wasn’t always so sure. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to believe in that mystical Santa—very badly, in fact. I also wanted to believe in the stories I read. I wanted to believe there was a Middle Earth, where hobbits and wizards and dragons ran amuck. I prayed that Narnia existed, and that I might be lucky enough to discover one of its secret passages—they’re everywhere, you know. I truly hoped there was a wrinkle in time, and that I might be called upon to save our very universe. I wanted to believe in that kind of magic! 

Now, as an adult with two children—one, a teen very much in the “wink-wink” stage, and the other in danger of stumbling off that narrow precipice of “I must believe, I must believe” and landing in the valley of “Seriously, Mom, Santa’s signature looks exactly like yours”, I walk a fine line between what is real and what is believable. Lucky for me, I’m a writer, and writers, much like Santa, are in the magic business.

Authors create believable worlds and conjure entities that walk and talk and do amazing and ridiculous things. We've been graced with the ability to fashion stories that ignite your imagination, and in some cases, spark again from time to time.

The magical embers of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle still smolder in my mind. Every now and then, I think of Aslan or Bilbo or Meg Murray and wonder if there could be portals through which my children might step to meet the childhood literary friends I made—or even better, to make their own. I hope they believe in that magic as strongly as I did. The reality: those doors do exist. But they're not made of iron or rock, and they're probably not nestled behind fur coats in old, forgotten wardrobes. The passages I speak of are framed in paper.
 
The greatest present a writer can give you this season, or any other, is the gift of our books. We offer you mystery and suspense, love and laughter, time travel and fantastical worlds, gripping biographies and memoirs. There is real magic lurking within the pages we have written. Magic you can believe in!

So, in the end, as long as you believe authors are real, the answer to that famous question is a resounding Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Have a wonderful holiday season filled with literary magic!
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​Bio: Virginia Gray is a bestselling women’s fiction novelist. A former university professor, she stepped away from academics to pursue a writing career. She is a great lover of humor, music, and all things food, and is best known for The Susan Wade Saga.

~Virginia Gray

Please continue to enjoy the work of my colleagues during The Twelve Blogs of xmas!

Next up Gordon Long!

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