Believe Again

Tom said that for him, it was always his parents that made him believe.

"We lived in different places, my mom and my dad. So my mom kept all of this stuff in the trunk of her car which we never knew about until years later, because every Christmas morning, there it was that Santa brought—by way of the trunk of my mom's car," Tom explains. "My dad did this thing that was so great. One year, I got a western outfit. It said on the card, 'To Tom from Hoss.' Hoss from Bonanza. I was convinced that at the end of Bonanza that week, Hoss would look in the camera and say, 'I just want to say to my buddy out there, Tom, I hope you like this.' When it was over, and he didn't do it, I rationalized it anyway. 'Well, he probably gave a lot of kids presents and he doesn't have time to single it out for me.' All through the show there's Hoss running around and [I'm saying], 'Gosh, he's such a great guy. He brought me a present for Christmas.' That was cool of my dad."