Belief has been FULLY restored!

My son, Colby, is nine and in the fourth grade.
Fourth grade seems to be the age that most kids stop believing in Santa. I know, because I taught fourth grade for five years and it broke my heart every year to have students share with their peers how he wasn't real.

Colby had a friend explain to him how he wasn't real last year.  Colby looked at me with questioning eyes.  Later that night, Sam got a video email from Santa telling him to be nice to Colby because "Santa is watching!"  That was enough to pull Colby back onto the "belief" train.

But this year.. this year I could already see it happening.  Anytime Santa was mentioned, Colby just kind of rolled his eyes.  I felt like I was just going to have to let it go that he was no longer a believer... a little part of me saddened.

So, Thursday night, I took the boys to our local amusement park to see the parade and Santa, like I do every year.  We arrived just as the parade started, so we ran towards where it would end so we wouldn't miss any of it and so we would also be close to where Santa would go afterwards.

We found and open spot and here came Santa in his sleigh. Santa was waving to all of the boys and girls as he past them. Then he got to us.  Santa leaned over and pointed right at Colby and said, "MY you have grown a LOT in the last year!"
Colby looked at me, his eyes widening, and shouted, "Mom!  He remembers me!!"
I smiled and nodded.

Belief has been FULLY restored ... at least for one more year.