make-believe

I used to believe…

Until I was 5 or 6 I had 6 imaginary monkeys who went everywhere with me. Some days my Grandad took me to nursey school by bus. My Mum would wait with us at the bus stop and then cringe with embarrassment as she had to lift each monkey onto the bus with me, and I counted them on! One day my uncle was driving me to nursery school. As he got into the drivers seat I screamed. He quickly ran round to my door and opened it, thinking he must have closed my finger in the door. I can still see his face when I told him I was ok but he had locked all my monkeys out!!

I live in Norway. On a mountain that we could see from my granmothers window, there were two satelite dishes. My father told me that they stood there because the trolls who lived on that mountain had just eaten dinner, and now their dishes were clean, and set out to dry. I asked my father why they were always there, evenin the morning..? he replied that "the trolls eat a lot".
Of course, I did belive him..

I used to believe…

At Christmas time, during special programs intended for children, I used to look behind the radio to see if Santa Claus and his elves were perhaps hiding there.

I used to believe…

My mother and father had me believing in the Easter Bunny untill I was around 10. I began to suspect one year that the easter bunny was not really-for-true, so I wrote a mean letter to the easter bunny's wife. A part of me was petrified while I did this, but I handed it in to my mother anyway. What it said was, that YES, I would like lots of chocolate but I really dont believe in you anyway, besides you always hide my basket in the bathtub but if you really are for real, dont get mad, and please tell your husband to bring candy anyway. When my Mother read this she held back from laughter, sat me down at the table and told me that I was right. Well, even though I had my suspicions, I was let down with the truth. Then my mother said that there will still be egg hunts and candy, not to worry. She also said 'Dont go writing a letter to Mrs. Claus like that because they are real and she will be pissed'

I used to believe…

My mom would tell my brother, sister and I that the way to mail a Christmas wish list to Santa was to leave it in the corner of the front living room window. At night elves would come and pick up the letter to give to Santa. Our letters were delivered every year! Those "Santa elves" sure were reliable!

I used to believe…

When I was four I had three imaginary friends. One was named "Betty the Girl", and the other two were boys but I always pictured them as Laurel and Hardy. Betty the Girl lived in the crab apple tree in my back yard, and the only time she would come out of the tree is when I played my Muppets album full blast. Usually one or all of them would get into an argument about which song to listen to...All the while my parents would listen and laugh.

I used to believe…

For months I was terrified of going into the narrow passage behind our garage because I thought there was a spider that lived there who's body was made out of one of those cubes of potato you get in a meat 'n' potato pie.

Why this scared me I do not know.

I used to believe…

When I was really young I was convinced that I had a huge pet grizzly bear (and a wolf but that's another story).

I told everyone that would listen all about the bear (that lived in a tall shed on top of the hill near my house).

When they asked I'd show them the bear by holding out one hand and pointing into the palm of that hand with the other hand saying 'look, it's there, in my hand'.

Even I don't understand.

I used to believe…

My mum told me that the sock monster took odd socks away. I thought it was a real two legged monster made out of socks with a big sock for a head (shaped like a horse's head) and that it lived in the cupboard above the boiler. The scary part was that it had no eyes or mouth...

I used to watch all the old monster movies way back when...so obviously I thought there was a creature waiting to get you if you ever let your guard down. Until I fell asleep, I used to strain to hear if Godzilla was coming to step on my apartment building. I also used to fall asleep with my arms crossed over my chest to act as a crucifix, just in case a vampire ever found its way into my bedroom....

i used to believe that santa clause was really real.When my mom finally told me that it was a myth when I was like 15 years old,I was totally devistated still to this day I believe in santa clause.

I used to believe…

A few months after my sister was born I had an imaginary friend named Bikini. I told everyone that she came out of my mirror and she looked exactly like me. She visited me everyday when she was feeling sad because her parents had died. I don't know where I had gotten that noone in my family had died at that point. We did everything together. She slowly dissapeared when my sister began to walk and talk. Then when she was about four bikini came back but not I couldn't see her only my sister could!

I used to believe…

My friend in kindergarten told me that if you thought about aliens, they'd sense it and come take you with them. She also told me she'd seen a spaceship in the mountains over our village and that they were watching us. I was really scared. Every time I accidentally thought about aliens, I'd be terrified that they would come and kidnap me. Come to think of it, I still feel a bit wary whenever I think about aliens...

I used to believe…

My older brother used to tell me all the time that there was a witch who lived in milk and every time I drank it, she'd go down into my belly and cut me with her long fingernails while laughing her wicked laugh (which he'd demonstrate, laughing witchily and clawing his fingers in the air). I was terrified of drinking milk for years.

I asked him once why he could drink it in tea without the milk-witch bothering him and he said the milk witch died when poured into hot liquid so she couldn't hurt him.

Everyone in my family still has a laugh about this now and again...

I used to believe…

It was only two years ago (at age 18!) that I finally understood that in the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" the father had dressed up as Santa Claus and 'mommy' was kissing her husband. It had always perplexed me as to why mommy would want to kiss Santa Claus. I still feel pretty dim whenever I hear that song.

I had an uncle who was a pretty good amatuer magician. He could perform a wide variety of impressive card tricks and optical illusions. But the one that really got me, terrified me, really, was the old "seperating thumb trick."

I used to believe…

when my mum and dad wanted us to go to sleep they would pretend wee willie winkie was knocking on our bedroom door, for some reason we were all very scared when we heard the knocking and pretended to be asleep and immediatley did fall asleep...very effective!

I used to believe…

My family lived in the midwest and we went to church on Christmas eve about 6 and when we returned around 7, Santa Claus had been there and presents were under the tree where none had been. My parents pointed out that Santa had the entire world to visit (including the Southern Hemisphere) in just one night and we were early on his schedule which explained why some people did not get their presents until Christmas morning, like those who lived in Dallas or Miami. Supposedly, then, Canadians received their presents about 2 in the afternoon on Christmas eve. This belief was aided by the local weatherman who would announce Santa's departure from the North Pole on the 5:30 newscast.

I used to believe…

When I was little my brother and I would leave out some food for Santa like a beer, some cheese, a cake, an apple and a turnip or carrot for the Reindeer.

When we awoke (usually around 4am!) we would find that all the food had been eaten and that the turnip had big Reindeer teeth marks in it! We were so excited that Santa had actualy been in our house with his Reindeer!

One Christmas I woke a little too early to find my Dad tucking into the beer and other bits whilst carving what looked like reindeer bite marks into the turnip with a crinkle-cut potato chopper!!!

What cruel deception!