When I was little I used to sneak around more than what was appropriate. I would hide everywhere and pop out and scare my parents awfully. I had a plan to take a photo of santa to disprove the naysayers. So I remember when it was very late and I was sure everyone was asleep I snuck to where the tree was and hid on my tip toes crouched behind an automaton in the corner.
I must have waited down there for about an hour when my Dad came downstairs and started getting presents out and wrapping them. I was crushed... but I thought maybe they were from him. After a while of wrapping he goes to the bathroom and I check some of the packages he was wrapping. From Santa... tears welled up and fell on the present. He comes back earlier than expected and I dive under a couch (very small, the bottom was made of wood and I cut myself pretty bad), he sits on the couch on top of me. I thought I was caught and santa was a fake. I gathered my courage and slowly took pictures of him (or his feet, wrapping presents). Every shot was a nail bitter, tempting fate to see if he would hear the very audible click the camera made. Somehow I escaped, I went back to my room where I told my older sister everything (we shared a room).
When I woke up the tables had turned (atleast to my mind) I had proof my dad was trying to be sneaky santa. So I grabbed the camera and boastfully walked downstairs and told everyone that I had pictures of santa. My dad played dump and said we should go get the film developed, I eagerly opened the camera only to find THERE WAS NO FILM INSIDE. My mom and dad and sister told me I had lost my nut or I was dreaming, or maybe santa couldn't be taken a picture of.
Ok so that's not the memory, I was crushed.
Fast forward I am now 21-22, I live on my own and I am about to leave on my road trip to MN to live with my girlfriend closer to her family. My dad and I have a lunch and he tells me he is happy about how I turned out (it felt he had finally accepted that I wasn't a child anymore). He said that he had something that was troubling him and something in his tone made me think the worst. He told me that my sister had told him about the picture that I took of Santa and he crept into my room and stole the film and that it had bothered him every day since.
I yelled, "I KNEW IT!" and we had a good laugh.