Flashback Friday

This memory takes place somewhere between 1976-1978. It was Christmas day of that year and my parents discovered that I had not received the one specific present I had asked for. It was a special doll called "Baby Alive" that I had played with at a friend's house that summer while on vacation in California. It was like a real baby that you could feed and change it and it crawled! I wanted one just like it and I never told anyone about it. I thought about that doll for 6 months until Christmas came and I could ask for that doll. My parents were unaware that I had asked for this doll because I hadn’t told them. I had only told Santa. On Christmas morning, I unwrapped everything only to find out that there was no doll. I waited until all the presents were unwrapped and then realized that I was not getting the doll I had waited for. Upon discovering my disappointment and the reason why, my parents got on the phone (without my knowledge) and found a store that was not only open on Christmas day (which was unusual back then) but also had this specific doll. My father went out on Christmas day and drove hours out of his way to this store. He brought the doll home, they wrapped it and left it downstairs by the fireplace. Then, my mother sent me downstairs with the wrapping paper to be burned in the fireplace. I walked downstairs experiencing the most excruciating depression I had felt so far in my young life. You can imagine my excitement when I saw this lonely present sitting by the fireplace because it had been dropped there by Santa! I just knew it had to be my doll!!! It was many, many years before I realized what my parents had done for me. And I say many because #1 I'm the most gullible person you will ever meet and #2 this caused me to believe for a very long time! (It helped that I was the oldest child and didn't have anyone older to tell me. Plus, my parents rocked in Santa world! They were good at it.) I didn't find out until my 5th grade school teacher blew it for me. I'm sure I was pretty much the only 5th grader in the world that believed!