A favorite moment from my Past

I just asked my Mom the moment I learned Santa Claus wasn't real. She doesn't remember, and neither do I. But I do remember a moment when I found myself believing in Santa even though I knew he wasn't real. I think I usually forget about this moment, but remember it every year when I am back in my parents house at Christmas time, ....like how I am now.

One year my Grandpa Egan was staying with us. I think I was 9 or 10. (Grandpa Egan passed away when I was 11.) And my parents and I had our own little mailboxes on the outside of our bedroom doors-a craft project that I made at school-I thought they were SO cool! (i used to rush to the mailbox everyday and distribute the mail to the appropriate mailboxes.) Anyways, even after I found out Santa wasn't real, I would leave him a little note, some cookies and milk. I always got a note back, ...in my mother's hand writing. But it was fun to do. Well the year my Grandpa was staying with us was no different. I left out the note, milk, and cookies. Well when Christmas morning came, I went to the fireplace to see what "Santa" wrote, and it wasn't my mom's handwriting. It looked like an old man's handwriting, it looked like Santa Claus' handwriting. I was freaking out!!! I truly at that point in time thought "maybe Santa is real, and this year he came to my house". ...i used to think that Santa would never have time to travel the whole globe every year, so I thought maybe he did regions-and that year was the year we came to New Mexico. I was so excited. But of course still had my doubts, I asked my mom over and over how did you do this? where did this come from? well it was my Grandpa Egan who wrote the letter. It was such a special moment, that I know I will never forget.

My parents have a scanner, but I can't figure out how to work it. I have a bunch of pictures of my Grandpa Egan, some with his hand writing on them, and I wish I could scan them so you could see, but I don't know how. Oh well. (seriously just spent like 30 minutes trying to figure it out.)