A childhood belief about father christmas

My grandmother always told me that pigeons were 'Father Christmas' birds who went back and told him everything you did (this was after a expressed my scepticism that Santa could really know all that stuff). Also, when I was really little and was getting excited about Christmas, my mother told me that it wasn't the next day but the one after. Then, when there were presents under the tree the next day, she would admit that she must have been wrong. It's almost embarrasing how long I believed that and how often I fell for it.