For the luckiest of us, Santa lives on forever, like a candle in the mind, like a singing in the heart. After all, he was the one who inspired so many of our happiest hopes and dreams. He flew all those miles bestowing gifts to one and all, and all he asked in return was a sense of wonder, a bit of believing. And so, on Christmas Eve, if we hear strange sounds, it might be our imagination, or maybe...just maybe...

Benjamin Russell Hanby [1833-1867] was the son of a United Brethren minister and attended Oberlin University in Ohio. Upon graduation, he worked for the college, then served as principal of an academy in Seven Mile, Ohio. He later pastored in Lewisburg and New Paris, then went on to work for music publishers John Church Company (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Root and Cady (Chicago, Illinois). He wrote over five dozen songs, many of which appeared in the quarterly Our Song Birds. Among others, he wrote "Darling Nelly Gray" and "Up On The Housetop," a favorite "Santa Claus" song of Children. Although there is no proof to prove it, some historians believe that Hanby also might have composed Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. It dates back to about the same time period and has Hanby's musical styling and lyric style.