NEW GLARUS - There's no doubt in some people's minds, Santa Claus exists.
A letter to Santa from 6-year-old Abigail Sturdevant of Mt. Horeb, published Dec. 17 in The Monroe Times, offers a brief glimpse into a child's mind at Christmas and banishes much adult cynicism about greedy children at Christmastime.
Abigail set the tone of her letter at the very outset. "I have been a good girl this year," she wrote.
But the next sentence reveals what was utmost in her mind. "My dad is coming home soon - from Afghanistan," she told Santa. "I am happy to see him."
While Abigail was writing, her dad, Chad Sturdevant, a graduate of Belleville High School and a sergeant in the Wisconsin National Guard, was indeed rounding down a mission and making preparations to return home Dec. 8, having been deployed about eight months earlier. He knew nothing of the letter, until interviewed last week.
With 15 years in the Guard, Sgt. Sturdevant is back from his third deployment, but it is the first one that Abigail will recall when she grows up. She was too young during his second deployment, he said.
Abigail included, in her letter to Santa, a polite, general request for non-specific Christmas gifts - "Please give me toys for Christmas." Then she immediately informed Santa that she would "leave cookies and reindeer food for all of you."
Sgt. Sturdevant laughed when he heard the letter read to him. "That sounds like her," he said. "She's a sweetheart."
When dad and daughter reunited, Abigail "grabbed a hold of me and stayed clinched," he added.
But it is inevitable, during the course of growing up, a child will question Santa's existence.
That is why Abigail's grandmother, Bonnie Gerner of New Glarus, sits down with the young children in her family to write letters to Santa. Teenagers are released from the task.
"It's important ... when they believe in Santa Claus," she said. "Don't you believe in Santa Claus?"
Writing letters to Santa is a family tradition for Bonnie and her husband Ed, which she has maintained for two generations.
"I always made our own kids write a letter to Santa. Besides, you get to find out what they want for Christmas," she added.
It was no surprise to the family, however, to see Abigail refer to her father first and foremost in her letter.
"Oh, it was rotten, miserable weather the day Chad came home," Bonnie recalled. "That was when Abigail said to me, "Nobody missed him as much as me.'"
Sgt. Sturdevant is with the 829th Engineering Company, out of Richland Center. He said there is "no operation at hand," and he does not expect to be deployed again for at least two years.
So he will resume part of the parental duty of reading to Abigail every night before bedtime.
And, as does every military wife, Becky Sturdevant, Abigail's mother, had picked up extra duty at home and bought the perfect Christmas present - or two - for Abigail.
And so, "Yes ... there is a Santa Claus," as Francis Pharcellus Church wrote to Virginia in 1897 via The (New York) Sun editorial. "He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist..."
Sometimes he just needs to shine through a little girl's letter.
A letter to Santa from 6-year-old Abigail Sturdevant of Mt. Horeb, published Dec. 17 in The Monroe Times, offers a brief glimpse into a child's mind at Christmas and banishes much adult cynicism about greedy children at Christmastime.
Abigail set the tone of her letter at the very outset. "I have been a good girl this year," she wrote.
But the next sentence reveals what was utmost in her mind. "My dad is coming home soon - from Afghanistan," she told Santa. "I am happy to see him."
While Abigail was writing, her dad, Chad Sturdevant, a graduate of Belleville High School and a sergeant in the Wisconsin National Guard, was indeed rounding down a mission and making preparations to return home Dec. 8, having been deployed about eight months earlier. He knew nothing of the letter, until interviewed last week.
With 15 years in the Guard, Sgt. Sturdevant is back from his third deployment, but it is the first one that Abigail will recall when she grows up. She was too young during his second deployment, he said.
Abigail included, in her letter to Santa, a polite, general request for non-specific Christmas gifts - "Please give me toys for Christmas." Then she immediately informed Santa that she would "leave cookies and reindeer food for all of you."
Sgt. Sturdevant laughed when he heard the letter read to him. "That sounds like her," he said. "She's a sweetheart."
When dad and daughter reunited, Abigail "grabbed a hold of me and stayed clinched," he added.
But it is inevitable, during the course of growing up, a child will question Santa's existence.
That is why Abigail's grandmother, Bonnie Gerner of New Glarus, sits down with the young children in her family to write letters to Santa. Teenagers are released from the task.
"It's important ... when they believe in Santa Claus," she said. "Don't you believe in Santa Claus?"
Writing letters to Santa is a family tradition for Bonnie and her husband Ed, which she has maintained for two generations.
"I always made our own kids write a letter to Santa. Besides, you get to find out what they want for Christmas," she added.
It was no surprise to the family, however, to see Abigail refer to her father first and foremost in her letter.
"Oh, it was rotten, miserable weather the day Chad came home," Bonnie recalled. "That was when Abigail said to me, "Nobody missed him as much as me.'"
Sgt. Sturdevant is with the 829th Engineering Company, out of Richland Center. He said there is "no operation at hand," and he does not expect to be deployed again for at least two years.
So he will resume part of the parental duty of reading to Abigail every night before bedtime.
And, as does every military wife, Becky Sturdevant, Abigail's mother, had picked up extra duty at home and bought the perfect Christmas present - or two - for Abigail.
And so, "Yes ... there is a Santa Claus," as Francis Pharcellus Church wrote to Virginia in 1897 via The (New York) Sun editorial. "He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist..."
Sometimes he just needs to shine through a little girl's letter.