Post # 1
Member
1251 posts
Bumble bee
Inspired by the Christmas Glee, when did you find out that Santa wasn’t real?
Does anyone plan on not allowing their children to believe in Santa?
I found out when I was 5, we went on vacation for Christmas, but my mom forgot the presents at home. So there were no presents on Christmas morning, and I bawled because I thought I had been “naughty”, so my mom and dad fessed up that Santa wasn’t real.
Then I got in trouble for telling the other kids in the neighborhood that Santa was a hoax.
Post # 3
Member
4136 posts
Honey bee
fi was raised jewish and totally doesn’t understand santa. he thinks it’s mean to lie to kids, and he grew up in a pretty insular jewish community, so he was never even around kids who were excited about santa. i remember how special it is though, so i completely plan on telling our kids there’s a santa.
i don’t remember how i found out santa isn’t real, so either i was traumatized or it just wasn’t a big deal to me!
Post # 4
Member
408 posts
Helper bee
I never had a moment where I was told Santa wasn’t real! I just sort of grew out of it. I hope my kids will do the same 🙂
Post # 5
Member
1251 posts
Bumble bee
This got moved to babies, but it’s not really so much about babies.
Post # 6
Member
10283 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
I started a thread about this a few weeks ago. Dont mind the copy/paste from my original thread…
I started to become suspicious the Christmas when I was 6 years old. It was Christmas morning and naturally I booked it down stairs to see what Santa had left me. Even at such a young age I was inquisitive. I questioned why Santas gifts had the same wrapping paper as my parents gifts and my mom, who’s ever so quick to throw out some BS answer, responded that Santa doesn’t have time to wrap all the presents so he drops them off unwrapped and has the parents do it for him, hence the same wrapping paper. I could smell bullshit even back then but I didn’t care, I scored some major NKOTB garb from Jolly ole’ St. Nick. That Christmas came to an end and I was seriously questioning if the big guy in the red suit was legit or not but I let it go.
So next Christmas rolls around and my parents did a pretty terrible job of hiding my gifts. I’m a snooper, I admit it! I climbed my little tush (it was little back then, those were the days!) up to the top of the enormous filing cabinet that my mother had in her home office and saw “To: Catie From: Santa”. Those liars!!! I was about to run upstairs and tell my mother that I had figured it all out but then I thought that maybe I shouldn’t tell them that I knew they had lied to me my whole life and play them like they played me! In my demented little 7 year old head I seriously thought that if I still believed in Santa, I would get more gifts. You know, ‘cause Santa has to bring you gifts but do does Mom and Dad, right? Well, I kept this charade going until I was like 12 years old and finally told my parents that I hadn’t believed in Santa for like 5 years.
The following Christmas my parents decided to teach me a lesson so while I was dreaming of sugar plums they drank a bottle of wine and TOOK DOWN THE CHRISTMAS TREE! I woke up Christmas morning to find not only no gifts but no Christmas tree either. They were ready with the camera to get a picture of my devastated face. Turns out they just hid my gifts in the laundry room but that was a pretty terrible 15 minutes! Now, every Christmas that picture is prominently displayed in their home. It’s a hilarious story now but back when I was 12, not having any Christmas gifts was like my own personal hell!! That year started a chain reaction of me crying over something or other every Christmas. Ever since then, my family has a saying… “It’s not Christmas until Cait cries”. Those assholes!
I definitely plan on playing the Santa card with my future kids. I’ll let them find out on their own that Santa isn’t real.
Post # 7
Member
1251 posts
Bumble bee
@CaitMarae- Sorry! I didn’t see your thread. And I am wrapped up in an all-day baking spree, so I needed some entertainment.
I like your parents sense of humor.
Post # 8
Member
6014 posts
Bee Keeper
I think I just grew out of it. I don’t remember having an OMG no Santa moment. We used to open our presents on Christmas Eve. We would leave the house all dark to goto mass, and during mass my older brothers would go home and put the lights all on, inside and out, pull out our presents and eat the cookies we left santa. It was awesome walking in to the lights, and music and dinner being ready. It did stink having to go walk past it all to sit thru dinner. Our last name begins with a letter pretty early in the alphabet, and so my parents told us that Santa couldn’t get to everyone in one night so he went alphabetically!! It worked cause no one else in our neighborhood’s last name were even in the first half of the alphabet.
Post # 9
Member
7768 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
I never want to lie to my kids or mislead them. I plan on being gently honest with them. I want them to experience as little disillusionment as possible.
This is my personal viewpoint and preference.
Post # 10
Member
384 posts
Helper bee
I’ve kept Santa alive for the past 9 Christmases and am happy to say that he’ll be making a very surprising 10th visit this year. Studies show that on average kids are 8 when the stop believing so naturally I thought last year would be his last year in this house. Lucky for me, my 9 year old still firmly believes he’s real,though she’s starting to ask some questions.
I’ve always been careful to wrap in different paper and hide the santa paper really really well. . . as in I often throw whatever is left away at work.
I stopped believeing somewhere around 9 or 10. . .on Easter. One Easter morning I ran down stairs to look for eggs and found none. I went back up stairs and woke my mom with a worried, “Mom, the Easter Bunny forgot us.” My mom threw the blanket off, said a curse word that started with an “S” and told me to sit on the stairs and not move. She went down stairs and hid the eggs. While I sat there, I started thinking, “If there’s no Easter Bunny, there’s probably no Santa or tooth fairy.” I wasn’t upset by it. . . I just kinda accepted it and moved on.
I think the reaction I had to learning the truth is probably why I was totally on board with my daughter believing in him.
Post # 11
Member
1220 posts
Bumble bee
I don’t see the harm in believing in a person that brings you presents. It’s kinda like knocking the tooth fairy also. You can have the creepy Easter bunny though.
Post # 12
Member
10283 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
@ILikePink: Oh, no worries! I just didn’t feel like retyping it so I just copy/pasted from my original thread. =)
Post # 13
Member
5843 posts
Bee Keeper
I can’t remember believing Santa was real. My mom says I figured it out when I was 4 (I wanted to know why Santa did not visit poor children). I want my kids to believe in Santa and I’m hoping I do a better job than my parents of coming up with excuses.
Post # 14
Member
767 posts
Busy bee
I plan on telling my kids there’s no santa right off the bat. I don’t want to lie to my children and I want them to trust me. When I found out santa wasn’t real I was very upset and confused as to why my parents had lied to me. I guess I was a bit older, because I can still remember the feeling of being tricked my whole life.
I will tell my kids what Christmas is all about- love, and spending time with your family. I still plan on spoiling them a bit on Christmas (hopefully I am financially able to), and getting in the holiday spirit. I just don’t want to lie to them.
Post # 15
Member
2142 posts
Buzzing bee
My brother and I were never led to believe in Santa- now the Easter Bunny was another story (that never held water). I always opened presents with my extended family on Christmas Eve and then immediate family on Christmas Day so there was no way to fib that one away. I was helping to stuff stockings at 5 or 6. I had fun that year because we got my Dad 50 golf balls and I emptied the carton into his stocking and when he upended it, they went everywhere.
Post # 16
Member
365 posts
Helper bee
This is my personal experience.
My aunt didn’t want my cousin to believe in Santa because it is a “lie”. Long story short when she saw a Santa at a Christmas party my cousin said to me aunt “See…I told you he was real.” and my aunt gave in. I found it great that a child who wants to believe still believes after their parents tells them he’s not real.
My parents (and family) went out of their way to keep us believing. They had Santa wrapping paper that they only used on santa gifts, with special tags that were signed in a fancy santa type handwritting. Santa wrote us back in red and green pen (he always knew how we were doing in school LOL), and Santa always came to our family Christmas party. Every year (still) my dad tracks where santa is for all the young kids at our family christmas party on Christmas eve. I think it is harmless and makes this time of year so magical. It depends on the kid too. Some kids just want to believe while others just want the truth.