People who were once young: Were you surprised that there was no Santa?

[Katzpur]

When I was in 2nd grade, a bunch of us kids were arguing after lunch one day just after Easter about whether the Easter Bunny was real or not. I can remember feeling so superior to the gullible kids who believed a bunny actually came to their house and left them eggs and candy. I laughed and made fun of them along with the rest of the more "mature" kids. Then somebody said, "Yeah, and Santa Claus isn't real either. It's just your mom and dad, like the Easter Bunny." I was shocked and horrified to hear somebody say that. I actually remember leaving the group of kids I was standing with and going over to join the group who believed in Santa, so I could argue for his existence surrounded by fellow believers. I can't get over how I could easily accept the fact that the Easter Bunny was pretend but be absolutely unwilling to even consider the same to be true of Santa Claus.

I must have gone home and asked my mom to level with me, because I don't think I believed in Santa Claus by the next Christmas. Once I heard it from her, it must not have been too earth-shattering to me, because I can't even remember having a conversation about it now.

 

[Nanda]

I stopped believing in Santa the same way I stopped believing in god - it just seemed less and less plausible over a long period of time. Neither realization was traumatic.

 

[Nanda]

When my son asks me if Santa is real, I ask him what he thinks. He still says "I believe he's real" and I say, "Then that's all that matters."

 

[Circle_One]

When I was two I walked out of my room (cause I had to pee) and I discovered my parents wrapping presents. They said that Santa dropped the presents off for them to wrap but I didn't believe them. I wasn't really upset cause I didn't really believe in Santa all that much before that.

This is exactly what happened to me, except I was a tad bit older.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

When my son asks me if Santa is real, I ask him what he thinks. He still says "I believe he's real" and I say, "Then that's all that matters."

Does he then enter a solipsistic psychosis?

Probably not.

Kids, eh? They never listen.

 

[Nanda]

Does he then enter a solipsistic psychosis?

Isn't that essentially childhood?

 

[Nepenthe]

Zwarte pieten. (black peets)
Has many stories actually. The best one would be that he is a chimney sweeper. This would explain why all the presents are brought through the chimney. And the reason why he is black, is because of the soot.
Another story is that he is the devil

Awesome!
This is actually how I learned Santa wasn't real: Santa...

 

[Papersock]

Were you genuinely surprised, disappointed or alarmed that there was "no Santa Claus," or did it elicit a less fanfaric response? Relief perhaps? Amusement? Perhaps had you already had it figured?

I don't remember going from believing in Santa to not believeing in Santa. It was probably a gradual thing. Although I also don't remember actually believing in Santa. I probably did, when I was really little.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

Isn't that essentially childhood?

Oh! Yes it is.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

Awesome!
This is actually how I learned Santa wasn't real: Santa...

Nooooo!

 

[DadBurnett]

Who says there's no Santa???
I have had the experience of the spirit of Santa's reality year round for seven decades.
To those who don't believe, I have three words ... Ho, Ho, Ho!

 

[blackout]

I figured it out myself when I was 4,
and "called" my mom on it.

I remember always knowing in school,
but not saying anything to the other kids.
I'm sure my mom told me not to tell the other kids.

As an adult, I have seen more than one kid over the age of 12
-- even 13 & 14! -- who STILL believed in Santa.
The lack of critical reasoning skills here I frankly find bizarre.
The fact that the parents CONTINUE to perpetrate the lie
even beyond the age of 9 or 10 I find even more bizarre.
At some point the exercise in critical thinking
becomes more important than the holiday "game".

I have never told my kids there is a santa, or played the santa game with them.
Every year they laugh about things like how santa must land in alot of furnaces,
and how deathly ill he must get after eating over a million cookies in one night.
All that kind of thing.

Myths should be fun.
For us the Santa myth is the source of alot of fun & silly converstaion every year.

Myths should also teach you things.
There is a fair amount of more serious considerations the Santa myth raises as well.
"Santa" opens the door for good conversations like "who are the elves... really".
(factory workers)
and economics. Can factory workers afford to buy the toys they make?
Does anyone really give you a room full of toys for free?
Advertizing and social/societal pressure/expectations to buy things you can't afford. (and don't need)
Also the analogies between Santa as parent, patriarchal God, and Satan.
Lots of interesting convo there.

 

[Smoke]

I never believed in Santa. I never could remember believing in Santa, and I was wondering whether I just forgot, so I asked my dad. He said, "No, you never did." I guess by the time I was old enough to understand Santa, I wasn't buying it.

My great-grandmother told me she believed in Santa till she was eleven years old, and then she only learned the truth because she and her cousin sneaked downstairs and caught her parents putting gifts under the tree. I remember thinking children in the 19th century must have been very naive.

 

[monta]

My great-grandmother told me she believed in Santa till she was eleven years old, and then she only learned the truth because she and her cousin sneaked downstairs and caught her parents putting gifts under the tree. I remember thinking children in the 19th century must have been very naive.

My Uncle believed until he was about 15, he had left school at 12 and had been working full time for 3 years supporting his parents and brothers and sisters, another farm hand told him the truth because he felt sorry for him, this was in the 40's ,I guess some people in the 20th century were pretty naive too

 

[Renji]

Note, this is a debate only for people who had a childhood and whose culture includes a varient of Santa Claus. Those who didn't, please refrain from posting.

Were you genuinely surprised, disappointed or alarmed that there was "no Santa Claus," or did it elicit a less fanfaric response? Relief perhaps? Amusement? Perhaps had you already had it figured?

When I was a child, I really and strongly believe in Santa. I would even debate someone who says that Santa isn't real that time. In Filipino culture, parents would put gifts in the Christmas stocking hanged on the window while their child is asleep (during the night of Christmas eve) then, when the children wakes up the next day, their parents will tell them "Look! Santa has a gift for you because you're a nice kid."
I was a curious type of child so I investigated if Santa really put those gifts I pretended to be asleep one night of Christmas eve and I would try to peek on the sock. But there is no gift or any signs of Santa coming! I was shocked and happy at the same time when I saw mom putting the gifts there. She is my real Santa Claus.:icon_lol:

 

[rojse]

It was the day that the magic ended for me...

 

[YmirGF]

I remember going downstairs one Christmas eve in my PJ's and sat anxiously waiting by the French doors with my arm around the family Pekingese dog, Cashew. I sat there for at least half an hour, maybe longer, in the dark... waiting for Santa. He didn't come. I guess I was around 4 or so at the time.

What's amusing is that, even then, I knew there was no possibility that he was coming down the chimney and thought it much more reasonable that he would land by the big cherry tree and come in the side door, where I sat waiting. Considering that Cashew would "go berserk" anytime a leaf dropped outside, it was unlikely that he would get past me if I dozed off.

Disappointed I just sighed and toddled back to bed. I did note that there were presents under the tree the next morning and that made me a bit suspicious.

 

[conradxiong]

I don't think I ever believed in Santa. I do remember believing in the tooth fairy, but that only lasted till I lost my 2nd tooth and I got a bit too suspicious about the whole idea.

If the tooth fairy has money to give to every child who loses teeth, the tooth fairy must be the richest person in the world...but she's not, so how could she exist?

 

[whereismynotecard]

I was extremely upset when I learned that there wasn't a Santa.
I was six and my sister was eight. She said Santa wasn't real,
and I didn't believe her. I couldn't believe that she would make
such an accusation. But then my parents told me the truth,
and then I was really really sad, because I loved Santa. It was
like a real person, Santa, had died. And it wasn't as though I
hadn't even seen him before. That guy in the mall who dressed
as Santa... Well, I really believed he was the real Santa too.
I had talked to Santa before, and I had sat on his lap, and then
I was told that he was gone. It was very sad.

 

[Renji]

I was extremely upset when I learned that there wasn't a Santa.
I was six and my sister was eight. She said Santa wasn't real,
and I didn't believe her. I couldn't believe that she would make
such an accusation. But then my parents told me the truth,
and then I was really really sad, because I loved Santa. It was
like a real person, Santa, had died. And it wasn't as though I
hadn't even seen him before. That guy in the mall who dressed
as Santa... Well, I really believed he was the real Santa too.
I had talked to Santa before, and I had sat on his lap, and then
I was told that he was gone. It was very sad.

But then, Baggins replaced Santa and make you happy