make-believe

I used to believe…

When I was young, Easter was a wonderful holiday at our home, with church and wonderful Easter baskets at home. When I was told at perhaps eight or so that there was no Easter Bunny, I was absolutely devastated.
It was much worse than losing Santa!

I used to believe…

When I was 7 I saw a special on the Sasquatch. I still believe and nothing frightens me more. I refuse to watch tv specials about Sasquatch (Big Foot) anymore, they give me bad dreams. Just thinking about it now will give me bad dreams. I'm so glad I shared.

I used to believe…

My family has lived for years on an old country road a fair ways out of town. For the past few years, an old man (who happens to be the father of a friend of mine) has driving down this street, slow as possible, in a large red Ford half ton. He's a spitting image of your average Hollywood Santa. Plump man, big long white beard, slightly balding, jovial looking. He would wave at everyone he saw. My Mom's friend's daughter, who is 6, was misbehaving once when they were visiting, and "Santa" drove by. We informed her that he was checking up on everyone, and that if she didn't smarten up, all we had to do was leave a note in the window so when he drove back, he would know she was being bad. Scared her straight.

Since then, "Santa" has passed away. Mind you, she still behaves well when she visits...

I used to believe…

When I was growing up, I had an imaginary friend named Hammer. My mom told me that one day I was very upset and crying. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her that Hammer died. Mom said that a couple days later I was really happy again, and I told her that Hammer was alive again.

All of my aunts and uncles knew I had an imaginary friend. They sometimes still make fun of me and ask me about Hammer.

I used to believe in the big bad wolf. It was a very real fear for me.
At Easter and Christmas this terror was magnified tenfold.

You see, I could always hear this evil, hairy wolf with his sharp teeth,
enter my home, rustle around and had visions of him laying in wait
to eat both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

I spent many years worth of holidays, cowaring under the blankets,
attempting to rouse mom and dad from their slumber to save the
day.

Being struck mute due to the terror of the situation at hand,
this was NEVER accomplished. That and the simple fact there was
no chance of me leaving the safe haven of my bed to make the
break for their room. :)

I used to believe…

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.

I used to think that the only way to get rid of the monsters at night was to imagine them away. I would imagine them leaving my house and going down the road, and if I lost track of the route I had to start over. When I figured they were far enough away, I could stop.

I used to believe…

My older sister once told me one year while she was sick sleeping in the livingroom, the easter bunny came to our house. He was drving around in a small car with our baskets in the back of it. He even fixed my little sister's broken basket.

I used to believe…

Someone once told me when I a child that if you rubbed cow's tears under your eyes, you can see ghosts,but the bad part was they would haunt you forever. It took me a long time before I stopped believing.

I used to believe…

My grandfather used to tell me that he could call Santa Clause up and tell him I was being bad and then Santa wouldn't leave me any presents. I was skeptical but sort of believed him because he would pick up the phone and talk to "Santa".

I always believed that gremlins lived in the bushes near my porch. I had gremlins under my bed and in the closet too but the bush gremlins were the worst. I would run up the walk and jump onto the porch from as far away as I could so the gremlins wouldn't reach out and grab me.

I used to believe…

When we were kids, we believed in a "BogeyMan", who hid in dark spaces (Like under the bed, at bedtime, leding to some fantastic acrobatics to get safely into bed, after turning out the room light switch)

Well, nowadays, I believe the "Hannibal Lector" stories to be about a "BogeyMan" for the Late Teens.
This character essentially says: "If you don't get out there, take the world's challenges on, & _MAKE_ something of yourself, then you're a passive "LOSER", due to be exploited by someone who's going to cheat you out of MORE than just your money ..."
<Quote> "There is no room for self-pity at my table, Clarice ..."

I used to believe…

as a little boy my father told me that Santa was tired of cookies and milk so I used to leave beer and salami sandwiches. I got wise when one christmas morining I discovered 3 empties when I had left only 1. I was 25 at the time.

I used to believe…

When I was about 7, my Mom sat me down and told me that she was the one putting
money under my pillow whenever I lost a tooth. For the next 2 or 3 years, I
actually believed she was the toothfairy, and was constantly trying to figure out
how she found the time to give money to every kid that lost a tooth, and also, if she
had access to so much money, why were we still living in a little apartment?

I used to believe…

Whilst we were in France we were on a boat ride around a lake that had tiny lilly pads covering the surface. To keep me from the edge, my dad told me that the green surface meant a ghost named Ginni Greenteeth lived under the water and would grab me if they came close. So I had nightmares and for years was afraid of lilly pads.

I used to believe the toot fairy stole your money.
-Dante-