When I became a believer in Santa Claus

Today is Christmas Day. Last night obviously was Christmas Eve. My brother Jeff reminded us that he has been part of the Leroy and Joy Christmas now for 50 years. My first thought if he has had 50 years then I must have had 58. He also told a different version of the Christmas story. I thought I was the emotional one in the family. (I guess there are no macho men, (Hulk Hogan) type guys in this family). We all cry so easily, and the lady folk just look at us. Heck, I can't even do the Christmas dinner prayer without choking up. Jeff also had us all reflect on Christmas traditions that we carry out in our families.

The most special day for my mom and dad (Leroy and Joy) has got to be Christmas Eve. As long as I can remember, there has always been a big family get together on Christmas Eve. I remember that most of them also included Uncle Roland and his family. Either we went to their house or they were at our house. Also, Uncle Coy and his bunch have been at our house. I can recall bed mattresses covering the entire bedroom floors.

If I had doubts about the true existence of Santa, it was definitely extinguished when I was about 10 or 11 years of age. This particular Christmas we were going to Uncle Roland's out in West Texas. As excited as I'm sure I was about going, I knew that I would be disappointed that Santa Claus probably was not going to bring us anything special while we were there. We gathered up all of our presents from under our Christmas tree and took them to the car and packed them away. Mom and Dad made sure that I was the last person out of the house and had locked the door. Which I did.

True enough, Sherry and I did not have anything special from Santa while we were there. Santa did leave a note that said, "Our gifts would be at our house back in Longview". Yeah, right! I knew that was impossible because I was the last person out of the house, and there was nothing under the tree.

When we got back home we unloaded the car and went in the front door of the house. There in the living room were two big bikes. Apparently, one for Sherry and one for me. Rule 1, never question if mom and dad are actually Santa. Rule 2, if you don't want to broach the question, "Who is Santa?" then you better not ask "How did those bikes get here?". Because they are just going to lie to you anyway.

It was 20 years later that I finally brought up the subject with mom on those bikes. I asked her if she had the neighbor put those bikes in the house while we were gone. She just smiled and never said if my suspicion was correct. Looking back on that day I would suppose mom and dad would say that was one of their best moments of being Santa.

Last night Jeff had us share one of our Christmas traditions. I would have to say my tradition is being at Mr. and Mrs. Santa's for 58 years. Mom and Dad are not about to give up their best day of the year. Instructions go out to Jeff, Sherry and I...don't be buying us presents. Does Mrs. Santa still lie? They had gifts for all 20 family members Christmas Eve, and for the ones that could not be there they mailed theirs to them.

Mom and Dad have shown what giving means to them. Jeff reminded us of what God's special gift means to all.

Yes, I admit I believe in Santa Claus.