I agree that Ralphie most likely didn't believe in Santa anymore, that he was just desperate at that point and figured it couldn't hurt.
In the past I've seen some posts here from parents who swear their (non special needs) kids aged 12 or even older still believe in Santa. Please. They're pretending as not to spoil YOUR illusion.
I don't have a photo of myself with a "real" Santa, department store quality or similar. My mother swears she took me, but I guess my parents were too cheap to buy the photo. There are a few photos with dime-store pretenders at the Elks Lodge or Community Center. To their credit, these imposters never claimed to be the real Santa, just his assistants who'd pass along my request list.
Santa sang the National Anthem at the Washington Capitals NHL game I went to in early December. It was Capitals "Ugly Sweater T-shirt" promo night. My wife and I managed to get 4, since they were on all the seats before the game and the two seats next to her remained vacant.
