Santa?

[mopthebunny]

Maybe it's silly, but I was wondering how many of you guys believed in Santa as a kid.

I never did believe, and I find it hard to understand HOW any children did/do

So, did you believe it Santa Claus? When did you stop believing?

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

my family never did the whole "Santa" thing, I think its because they always wanted us to know who actually got us the presents so we could thank them. When I was little I never understood how people could actually believe because "magic isn't real" was talked about in my house growing up.

So no, I never believed in Santa, and who knows? maybe it was for the best.

[tulagirl]

I believed until I figured it out around age 6 and I was extremely upset with my mother for lying to me about a man in a red suit coming into the house to leave me gifts.  So, sadly I took it very bad.  I think I had too much happen to me by that age due to what I was subjected to and things that had happened.  Age six was one of my worst years for numerous reasons. So, I really wasn't able to handle any kind of stress.  It was probably the worst year for me to find out Santa was not real. I felt betrayed and wasn't interested in playing mother for years so I could get more out of her.  I was upset enough I have been against the concept of Santa ever since.  To me it is nothing but a huge lie and we teach our children not to lie and then turn around and tell them a man in a red suit is going to leave them gifts.  Someone they don't even know.  We try to teach them not to talk to people they don't know and then we push them into the lap of an old man in a red suit for a photo at Christmas.  I have a huge problem with all of this.  I know my opinion is not a popular one, but it is what it is.  Christmas can certainly be just as magical without all of this and, I don't believe children need it just because they are young and only young once.  I love the holidays though and love Christmas.  Christmas for me has religious significance which is far more important for me than secular concepts of the holiday.  I understand everyone should celebrate the way they like and I would never say anything to anyone about it.  This is just my own personal conviction.  So, I feel all should enjoy their holiday traditions the way they like as we are all different.  I wouldn't dream of ruining whatever a family believed was right for them.

The odd thing is in all my years of working for children I was surprised to find families that felt as I did. I figured everyone would go the Santa route.  He was not popular at all with the parents I worked with which was a huge shock.  They never said why they would only say, "we don't do Santa here."  Okay sounds great to me.

[Ponyfan]

My parents never told me Santa was real so for me Santa at Christmas is part of the fun. My mom says when I was about 2 she took me with her to the hair salon to get her hair done and one of the stylists asked me what I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas. She says that I said "Santa doesn't bring my presents. They're hidden in Mommy and Daddy's closet." Maybe that's why I didn't want to go sit on Santa's lap at Christmas.

Ponyfan

[Miniature Sheep]

I believed in Santa until around age 5, at which time I probably cottoned on to the fact that it didn't make much sense that he would drop off presents both at home and at my mum's house. It probably didn't help matters that Santa also seemed to be *everywhere*, like in his grotto in the mall, dropping by at school, out and about in town - pretty prolific bloke, apparently! Why, he can even assume the form of multiple different people!

[Pokeyonekenobie]

I don't know that I ever believed in Santa as a real person.  I believe in him more as the Spirit of the Season, you know, the one that makes you want to give people presents. 

When we were younger my parents never put "From Santa" on anything good (they would put that on the smaller stocking stuffers) because they wanted us to know that they got us the good stuff.

But I agree that the idea of having a stranger break into your house by going down a (sometimes nonexistent) chimney and leave you stuff is really creepy.  Besides that, why would Santa give the rich kids good stuff and the poor kids socks?  That seems a little less based on how "good" you were and a little more on how much your parents could pay off the fat man.  Wouldn't poor kids have need of more/better toys than the rich kids whose parent could just go out and buy it for them any old day of the year?  Also, have you ever paid attention to the words of the songs in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"?  He sings a song that goes "If you sit on my lap today a kiss a toy is the price you pay."  So if I sit on a strange man's lap and kiss him he'll give me toys?  What kind of messed up message is that?   

[ladybastilla]

i can't remember if I ever 100% believed. My parents never discouraged us from writing letters to him or getting our picture taken with him, but they didn't hide the fact that they were wrapping gifts and one of the Christmas songs I remember loving as a kid was The Beach Boys' Santa's Beard. I think what happened in our house was that even once we knew for sure he wasn't real, we just kept up our traditions anyway because they were fun.

When my parents were sure we were all past any belief they explained to us that the important thing about Santa is the spirit of generosity and kindness that he represents. As long as we hold onto those things, "Santa" will always be real. I'll be 35 in February and on the years my family and friends ask for a Christmas list, I still write it as a legit letter to Santa.

I do agree that Santa can be abused / misused, though. I think that families who do not take credit for any of the gifts going out miss the core of the whole Santa thing. And don't get me started on parents threatening to report their kids to him. That irritates me on multiple levels.

[Kiwi]

I definitely did. It always was a part of Christmas - visiting Santa, writing a letter, sleeping on the couch Christmas Eve, leaving out cookies and carrots for the reindeer. I never felt lied to when I figured out he wasn't truly real, because it was also just a fun part of the season. I just started to gradually adjust that it wasn't logically possible, and it was certain the year that mom accidentally used the same wrapping paper on "from parents" gifts as well as "from Santa", haha Even as a teen / adult, sometimes Mom and I (if the mall was dead) would go sit on Santa's lap and say hi, because it was fun.

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

because they wanted us to know that they got us the good stuff.

That's exactly what my parents said, they wanted us to thank the person who actually bought the gift. It makes sense.

[RainbowQuartz]

I believed, but only 1/3 of my kids does. We never told them Santa brings their presents but we never told them he didn't. I don't want the credit but I also don't want them traumatised finding out he isn't real (the way I found out really upset me as a child.) It's a big argument thing in my family lol. I let my kids believe what they want.

[Seachanger]

I don't remember ever 100% believing. I might have when I was really little. But I did play along for fun for a long time. My kids play along too and I think the little ones believe a little bit.

[melodys_angel]

Im not sure if I really believed he was real real.  I think I just went along with it subconsciously.

Im part German.  We always celebrated ont he 24th..so the whole 'coming down the chimney on the 24th made no sence to me.  My grandmother said that he would come a few weeks early and just drop stuff downstairs.

The only time we opened anything ont he 25th was when we went to see the other side of my family.

[Icicle]

I did as a kid, I can't remember when I learned the truth but.. my mom never wrapped the gifts for under the tree, and one year she forgot to take a price tag off of something (a Rugrats the Movie sleeping bag, of all things, lol) and I instantly knew because "Santa gets his stuff from his toy shop, not Toys 'R Us!!!" Luckily I must have been old enough to confront her and get the annoyance out of my system in private because my younger sister believed for a few more years after that.

If anything I felt more betrayed realizing when my mom went to go "See Santa to give him your lists" it was her going to TRU and like, dude I WANNA GO TO TRU AND GET TOYS.

I do wonder how when I eventually have kids I'll handle it, being a Christian now.. uh, a lot of people I know are oversaved about the whole thing.

[SpaceButtPonies]

I did till I was 6ish? How I found out he wasnt real was when I saw the " to and from" tags. Santas hand wrighting was the same at my grandmothers. I was a bit disapointed but not really, kept up the act for my grandmother cause she seemed to be totally into it.

[northstar3184]

I think I was 8 when I learned Santa wasn't real.

This topic makes me think of an incident in high school. I was a senior and was a taking a debate class. One day our teacher asked for suggestions for our next debate topic. This girl who was a year younger than me (so she would have been ~16 years old) said she wanted to debate the existence of Santa. I thought it was a joke and started laughing. She asked why I was laughing. Puzzled by her reaction, I said "how do you debate something that we already know isn't real?" She yelled "He is too real!" Then, she ran out of the room crying. The whole room was speechless.