Which is it?

Here's my question:  Am I an optimist... or do I possess the sucker gene?  This is a slippery slope.  Let me explain.  On any given day in my world, the glass is half full, BUT I do have my share of experiences that point to a clear case of gullibility.   For example, I may find myself writing out a check to a random person who comes to the door and blathers something about kids in underdeveloped parts of Africa with a dire need for mittens and hats... or responding to the infomercial that promises younger looking skin, tight abs, and a gleaming white smile all just by sitting on a machine that wiggles in a hula fashion? It could work... right?
Where it becomes slippery is in the middle of a conversation with your nine year old who asks questions like:
Why can't I have a handful of quarters for the claw game?  Somebody has to win!
Mom, why don't you play the lottery?  Followed by: Mom, you can't win, if you don't play!
Mom, do you think Darth Vader could turn back to the good side?
What if Santa got stuck in our front yard and had to stay with us for supper?  He's probably hungry - right?
And am I passing this unique quality on to my children?  Evidence might suggest yes indeed - based on the fact that my son will sit on the end of a dock or in a boat for hours waiting for a fish to nibble on the end of his fishing line.  Once he had me take several photos of him with his Lego creations and send them into the Lego Magazine - and now has been desperately checking the mailbox day in and day out for months in the hopes that he will be featured in the next issue.
My daughter seems to be less taken by promises and gimmicks.  However, she has been blessed with a rather active imagination. After reading Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory together several years ago, she indulged me with her secret wish to have a cascading chocolate waterfall in our back yard.  She informed me that she would just have occasional licks by sticking her finger into the falls - she wouldn't be greedy like Augustus was.
So maybe it should be called the optimistic sucker imagination gene.  There, that's not so bad... I'm in.  How about you?