Santa Claus, Mom, and the Easter Bunny

So I was somewhere around 7 years old when I put two and two together and realized who Santa was. We were getting ready to travel to my grandparents' house in Vansant, VA, for the holidays and I saw some wrapped presents in the car trunk that I didn't remember being under the tree at our house. I can even remember the wrapping paper to this day, sort of a bright 1970s emerald green with some festive holiday pattern on it. Low and behold, the same presents appeared under the Christmas tree at my grandparents' house on Christmas morning. They were labeled, "From Santa Claus."

I don't think I was disappointed or heart broken about it. Maybe a little puzzled at how elaborate the whole charade was, but hey! I still got tons of gifts so I wasn't going to make any waves over it.

Not much later, although I'm not sure when or even what time of the year it was, my mom took me aside and gently explained that she had something to tell me. Mom confided that she and Dad were Santa Claus and they were the ones who put all those presents under the tree for me to find on Christmas morning. I remember nodding my head and telling her that I knew that. I also remember Mom looking somewhat relieved and almost casually stating that, "Well, you also know that I'm the Easter bunny and tooth fairy, right?"

My eyes bugged out of my head and it was all I could do to stammer out, "For...for EVERYONE????"

I might have gotten wise to Santa by then, but the Easter Bunny was sacrosanct and not once had I ever imagined he wasn't a rabbit who brought baskets on Easter morning just like the stories said. To hear that my own mother was the one who delivered all that chocolate candy was simply mind shattering, but at that moment I fully believed that my mother was a superhero and I was the luckiest girl in the world.