Do you believe in Santa?

I do!

He resides at the Neshaminy Mall in Langhorne, PA just prior to the big night. He has proven this to me twice and I feel compelled to share the events that took place with you.

The first incident took place about 8 years ago when my now 16 year old son was 8 and he was sitting on the fence as far as his belief in Santa was concerned. As a tradition in our house, every Christmas Eve since he was 4, we read the Polar Express (before Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg made it a movie) before bed. If you are unfamiliar with the story it involves a child asking for a bell from Santa's sleigh as a gift and it's ring can only be heard by believers. My son was very familiar with the story and he figured he came up with a fool proof plan to see if Santa was "real" or not. Unbeknownst to me he asked this Mall Santa for a bell off his sleigh. As we stood in line waiting for the pictures to be developed, Santa motioned to me and asked me to come over to him. He reached into a bag next to him and handed me a bell on a leather string and asked me to wrap this up for my son! Every hair on my body stood on end, I knew exactly why my son had asked for it and Santa came through!

The second incident occurred when my now 9 year old daughter was 3 1/2 years old. In November of that year I went on a class trip with my son and I left her home with her dad. Big mistake. While her father was downstairs captivated by Franklin on Nick Jr. she was up in the bathroom giving herself a makeover which included a haircut. When he went looking to see what she was doing he found her sitting on the toilet, with her long blonde curles circling the floor below her! He panicked! He picked her up and the hair up and ran to the Hair Cuttery. He said to the hairdresser her mother is going to kill me, do something. All she could do was grin and say I'm sorry! My daughter now sported a mullet, not your average mullet either, I am talking one of those backwoods, hearin' banjo music in the background mullets! Of course this was days before her Nursery School pictures. When I got home well lets just say I was a bit despondent! (I was also 8 months pregnant if that helps explain things) In hindsight it is a very funny story but to be honest I was really upset. My two older children were baldies as babies and well into toddlerhood, Emily had this long beautiful blonde curly hair, she was my first 3 year old that had any hair to speak of. I cherished it a little. She had her picture taken as is no hat no nothing, history is history and there is nothing you can do about it, right? A few weeks later we went to see Santa, not much growth had taken place! It did still bother me everytime I looked at her but I would never let on as she was as proud as punch with her new haircut. When we got up to Santa she sat with him and told her all of her wishes as they finished and walked away Santa grabbed my hand and he said to me "I really like her haircut. I really do" Up went my hair again! The thing that gets me is he said it to me not her, as if he knew how much it bothered me. Santa helped me immeasurably that day. He made me a believer, and I still am............................................................Do you believe in Santa?