A childhood belief about father christmas

Like most children, I beleived in Santa when i was little. I believed really hard and I vividly remember one christmas eve being determined to stay up all night so that i could see Santa. I sat at my window for what seemed like ages, looking out on the frosty starry night. Then my heart skipped a beat. I heard slay bells and I thought I'd better get in to bed and pretend I was asleep, quick smart, thinking that if Santa saw me spying him - he'd be annoyed with me. So i snuggled down and brought the covers up and did that thing when you pretend to have your eys closed but they are atually open a little bit. I waited and watched and then the next thing I woke up and it was Christmas. There was my stocking filled with goodies - but I had missed him! I was a bit gutted. A few years later I was telling my mum how excited i'd been and how I really did think I had heard slay bells... she said "You did!" and went in to a cupboard and started raking about and produced a red leather strap thing with a bunch of little bells on it and gave it a wee shake.