Santa Claus all a-Twitter
If young Virginia O’Hanlon were born a century later, her letter to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897 questioning the existence of Santa Claus might well have been a tweet:
@newyorksun I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
The response in the form of an unsigned editorial penned by newsman Francis Pharcellus Church (@fpchurch) has become legendary: @cutiepie Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.
(A tweet, for the uninformed, has a limit of 140 characters, so the editorial in response to little Virginia has been boiled down to those seven familiar words. Google it sometime for the whole thing. It’s neat.)
When you’re savvy around social media like myself, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to discover what people are thinking, even new-fangled letters to Santa. Here’s a few I came across:
@santa_claus me again .. My Christmas wish list is you take back all the big screen HD televisions you’ve given to people over the past 10 years. Those sets are being misused.
@TigerWoods Eldrick you do understand this is a time for giving not taking right? play by the rules and stop blaming fans for your problems #tigerrule
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@santa_claus I would like my game back for 2014. I used to be the No. 1 golfer in the world.
@McIlroyRory @carowozniacki i handle club, glove, shoe, balls and other golf equipment wish lists. in the immortal words of rocky’s manager mickey: women weaken legs!
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@santa_claus St. Nicholas .. for the world’s population to be right neighborly to one another.
@pontifex your message of love, giving and forgiving is all yearlong, not just a week or so like me. keep up the good work #popefrancis
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@santa_claus all i want for Christmas is that we beat cleveland, cincinnati pummels baltimore, new york jets pound miami, kansas city warms up to san diego.
@CoachTomlin mikey you know i can’t gift the outcomes of NFL regular season games, only the league office can do that. but I’ll see what I can do #steelernation
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@santa_claus 2013 all over again in 2014!
@TheCUTCH22 I so do enjoy watching you play day in, day out up here at the North Pole (satellite dish is great). how about a new glove and a couple bats? #cutchmvp #pirates
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@santa_claus how about a pair of 4-minute mile track shoes and a wicked curveball grip? and keep #jwdzeus the coolest uncle ever!
@TyroneLohr I’ll see what I can do with the equipment, maybe flame shoes like #usainbolt. you are the man women want and men want to be! #hempfieldspartans (my nephew Jason)
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@santa_claus this is pretty boring but i could use a new set of windshield wipers, some oxford shirts and other things for my car and clothes closet.
@ceceliajo that is pretty mature and boring! a little birdie tweeted something about you and roller derby so I think an amazon.com gift card will provide skates, wiper blades and something fun #ceceliajorecord #heraldstandard
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@santa_claus how about a job? with a football team, that is
@TimTebow how many NFL gifts to you want? like that game against the Steelers in the playoffs, remember? how about a prepaid cell phone to start calling around the CFL? Europe has a bunch of teams!
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@santa_claus thank you for being so generous to me in the past. the shampoo people take pretty good care of me, but a couple fancy brushes would be nice.
@tpolamalu the old man in me says get a haircut, but i so admire your skill and determination on the football field i think you’ll be happy Christmas morning.
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@santa_claus where do i start? i’d like to ask to keep my legs healthy, but how about fun, success and appreciation of others’ abilities for all?
@jwdzeus since you pretty much have a physical therapist on retainer, i’ll see what i can do about your other request! #merrychristmas #happynewyear #besafe