A childhood belief about father christmas

I'll admit to this but i actually believed in Santa Claus until I was 11 i think. Every christmas i would get excited becuase I thought santa would be given me christmas presents as my parents would always say. I would write to him saying what i wanted and my parents would write back saying if he could get them or not. My name would also be put down at the end and i was happy that he knew my name. We always put mince pies for him to eat and milk for his raindeers to drink. Sometimes a note would be there for us apparently from Santa thanking him for the mince pies and milk. I was happy back then as i thought it was Santa thanking us. Then one christmas, my mother spoiled the fun when she told me Santa wasnt real. How she upset me that day!