Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

From last year: In 1897 a young girl named Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Sun asking if Santa Claus really existed. The editor's response became the bookYes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, which was published in 1972. Two years later in 1974 Peanuts animator Bill Melendez adapted it into a popular half-hour ABC special - complete with a theme song by Jimmy Osmond.

The show aired during the 70s on ABC, then on CBS, USA Network and The Family Channel throughout the 80s and 90s. The story was also adapted into a live-action TV-film in 1991 starring Richard Thomas, Ed Asner and Charles Bronson. A second animated adaptation premiered on CBS in 2009 and will be rebroadcast this season. The real Virginia O'Hanlon grew up to become a schoolteacher and died in 1971.