Dear Santa…
Actually, scratch that.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Ten years ago around this time of year, I would be writing a letter to Santa Claus, telling him what I wanted for Christmas and asking how his reindeer were doing. I haven’t written a letter to Santa in a long time, but I think a letter to you both is long overdue.
I’ve never told you how much I appreciate the two of you being Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and everything else I believed in. You never questioned my belief or said anything to make me consider these characters weren’t real. You always helped me make Christmas cookies for Santa, bought an extra present that I truly believed came from the North Pole, and always made sure to slip a dollar under my pillow for each lost tooth.
The two of you kept my belief going as long as I wanted it to, and let me stop believing at my own time when I was ready. Even when my older brothers would tell me Santa and the Tooth Fairy didn’t exist, the two of you would shush them and tell me to ignore them. Even when I woke up in the middle of the night one year and caught Dad eating Santa’s cookies, he still managed to explain it away because he didn’t want me to stop believing.
I may not believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy anymore, but I will always have fond memories of what it felt like to believe.
I can never describe how much I love and appreciate the both of you. You have always been the most supportive and understanding people in my life. You always reassure me that my mistakes don’t define me, and what matters most is how I pick myself back up. And of course, you always encouraged me to believe.
Cover image source: Pixabay