“真的，弗吉尼娅，圣诞老人是真的！”全世界刊登次数最多的社论
118年以前，在美国纽约，一位名叫弗吉尼娅·欧汉伦的8岁小女孩儿，遇到了一个很大的困惑： 圣诞老人真的存在吗？
她去问爸爸，爸爸说，你写信给《纽约太阳报》吧，如果他们刊登了正式的社论，那么，肯定就是有的了。于是，弗吉尼娅就写了一封短信，寄给报社。
收到信后，编辑弗朗西斯·彻奇陷入了沉思。彻奇曾是美国南北战争时期的一名战地记者，看到过很多血腥场面，并同时感到社会中普遍的绝望和怀疑情绪。他希望利用回答弗吉尼亚的简单提问，能让美好更多、更久地存在于孩子们、大人们的心中。
于是，在1897年9月21日，报纸刊出由彻奇撰写的题为《圣诞老人存在吗？》的社评。虽然出现在第七版一个不起眼的位置上，但这篇感人至深的短文还是迅速引起了读者的注意，被争相传阅。
特别是其中“真的，弗吉尼娅，圣诞老人是真的”一句，广为流传，成为这篇短文的代名词。
之后的一个多世纪里，每当圣诞节来临时，全世界各地的一些报纸、杂志，总要重新刊登一次。《圣诞老人存在吗？》这篇社评，至今仍保持着英文史上重印次数最多的报纸社评记录。
圣诞节就要到来了，童书妈妈将以中英文的形式，全文刊登这篇让灵魂颤动的社论：《Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus》。我希望，我们以后每年也要刊登一次。来回答很多小朋友们提出的“圣诞老人真的存在吗”的问题。
亲爱的编辑：
我现在8岁。
所有的头脑，弗吉尼娅，不管是大人的还是小孩的，都是很小的。在我们这个广大的宇宙里，人不过是一只小虫子，比起周围无边的世界，掌握全部真理和知识所需要的智慧，我们的智慧就像一只蚂蚁。
Is There a Santa Claus?
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor—
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'sso."
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety Fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of askeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing canbe which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia , whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of cours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia,there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove ? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart.
Only faith, poetry, love,romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, may 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Merry Christmas！