“Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus” …

 

Ginnie is my nickname but my Dad (shown here working on a crossword puzzle) always called me by my actual name, Virginia, and he loved reciting that phrase to me every Christmas morning when I was a child. 

He was, of course, referring to the famous letter that little Virginia O'Hanlon sent to the Editor of the New York Sun in 1897.

“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 is so”, so please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?” Editor Frank Church answered her letter and it has become the most reprinted newspaper editorial of all time. 

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. … 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.” 

 … and then dad would pause dramatically and putting his arms around me he would repeat the next line in a deep and loving tone. “Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS.”  

Dad has been gone for 58 years but writing this reminds me of that twinkle in his eye and of the many  Christmases spent with mother and dad and my four sisters.

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PS: I don't like that only Google members can post on my blog. If you want to leave a comment feel free to email it to me at snowflakesnew@gmail.com  & I will post it.