(This is a fictional short story from my collection. Hope you enjoy.)

"There is no Santa Claus!" 9-year-old Jan yells in Emily's face."Is too!" her little sister shouts back."Look, you little brat. I just found a bunch of presents in Mom and Dad's closet. Go look if you don't believe me."So Emily does. And there on the closet floor are several gaily wrapped presents, some marked with Jan's name and others with her name. At 7 years old, her heart breaks in a million pieces.Two days later they're in the town's variety store, Grandy's. Emily sees Santa Claus with a little boy on his lap. She waits until he hands the boy a candy cane and sends him on his way. She immediately goes up to him and shouts, "You're a fake! You're not real!"All the heartbreak Emily feels comes pouring out in hot, angry tears. Santa Claus, who sounds and smells a lot like Mr. Dunbar, the janitor at Hillside Elementary, puts his arms around her and says, "You're right. I'm not Santa Claus. I'm just one of his helpers."As her nose runs all over his fake curly white beard, he whispers in her ear, "But if you really believe, you just might catch a glimpse of him Christmas morning before he leaves for the North Pole."She stares up at him, hope welling up inside as he gives her a big wink.Christmas Eve, Jan can't understand why Emily is so excited. Emily doesn't share her secret that she might get to see Santa Claus in the morning because she's afraid Jan will start all over again about how he doesn't exist.Christmas morning Emily is delighted to see the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, colored lights all aglow, tinsel shimmering. Many Christmas presents under the tree wait to be opened.But no Santa Claus.Emily looks in all the rooms, in every corner, but she doesn't see Santa Claus.Jan and her parents come down the stairs, sleep-rimmed eyes.Suddenly Emily stands still as she hears something from outside. It sounds like sleigh bells.She rushes to the window and Jan comes running to stand beside her.Just as he turns the corner, they glimpse the back of a man in a red suit trimmed in white fur with coal-black boots and a brown sack slung over his shoulder. They both hear a faint, "Ho-ho-ho" as the sound of jingling bells grow dimmer.Emily turns to an awe-struck Jan and sticks her tongue out at her."There is too a Santa Claus! So there!"And Emily catches a glimpse of him every Christmas morning for the next four years.But for some reason, she somehow misses him every Christmas after that.Until this year when Emily, her husband, Dan, and their 6-year-old son, Jason, come home to her parents' for Christmas.Christmas morning they wake up to the sounds of sleigh bells. Emily grabs Jason's small hand and hurries him over to the window. They're just in time to see a figure dressed all in red with white fur and coal-black boots round the corner out of sight. They hear a faint "Ho-ho-ho."Her small son turns to Emily with eyes as big as the empty cookie plate for Santa and says, "I knew it! I told that old Johnny March that there was a Santa Claus, but he told me there wasn't. I can't wait to tell him there is too a Santa Claus because I saw him!"Emily smiles as her son runs excitedly to his Grandpa to tell him all about seeing Santa Claus. She's relieved that the magic of Christmas would be his for a little while longer.A couple days later, Emily stops in at Grandy's store to see if she can pick up any after-Christmas sales. She sees Mr. Grandy, the owner, and asks him if Jake Dunbar is still the store's Santa Claus.She wants to thank him for what he did for her son. You see, as Emily grew older, she realized that her Christmas morning visits from Santa were probably Mr. Dunbar trying to prolong her belief. When her Santa visits to him at the store stopped, so did his visits to her house. Until this year. Living in a small town, Emily is sure he had heard she was coming home to her parents' for Christmas and decided to pay her son a little Christmas morning visit.There is a tinge of sadness in Mr. Grandy's eyes as he says, "Jake Dunbar was our Santa Claus for over 30 years, until this year. He passed away about two months ago."Emily feels goose bumps all over."If not Mr. Dunbar, then who?" she thought.Her mind says it can't be, but a little smidgen of hope and wonder begins to grow in her heart.After all, who says only children can believe?