Hagar wants to believe

As I have mentioned before, when it came to Santa Claus I was a true believer. It was never a topic of conversation or close examination in my neighborhood in the forties, and I was an only child so I didn't have a sibling to cross swords with or disagree with everything I thought. I caught on though at probably the right time as most all children do. Psychologically, it took asking for toys out of the greedy category because you could ask the old gentleman in the red suit for most anything and the people who paid the toy stores could pick and choose which presents Santa was going to get for you. It was a very good arrangement and made Christmas a magical time of the year for me. I was caught up in the excitement from Thanksgiving to the great day. As an aside, I remember as I got older one Christmas season I peeked and found Santa's stash. Bad move. On Christmas morning I had to pretend surprise. I never peeked again.