The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: mopthebunny on December 22, 2016, 02:51:35 PM
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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 XD
So, did you believe it Santa Claus? When did you stop believing?
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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.
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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. :lol:
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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
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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! XD
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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? :shocked:
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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.
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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 :D 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Christmas has always been a big thing for my family. I don't know why but my mom and dad always have went overboard and spent too much. It's actually odd considering my sister and I usually never ask for anything because we know how hard it is to afford things. We both believed probably last nude then most because who doesn't want to believe in something magical? I think we were both sad when we found out but it's still fun. Lol my mom even says now "if anyone wants gifts they believe in Santa During Christmas."
I like the kind spirit of community and love during this season and that means enough to me. That's the entire meaning of Santa for myself. Lol, I'm 30 and my sister is 25. We still make cookies for Santa and put them out and read the Night Before Christmas together. My sister still wakes us all up st the crack of dawn. I dunno, it's a fun game in a way. We also though always leave s gift from Krampus to my dad or my sister and I sneak surprise Santa gifts into our mother's stocking. It's just something fun for all of us, and I've never regretted those memories I hd as a child or even now.
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I never believed in Santa either.
I did however believe that animals got voices and could talk at midnight the day before Christmas.
So as a kid I tried to stay awake every night so I could talk to my dog, and every year I failed and I was so disappointed XD
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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.
Well, you learn something new everyday! XD I wouldn't have thought that was possible :blink:
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I honestly can't remember exactly when I stopped believing in Santa, so it can't have been remotely traumatic! My mum was another of if you believe you get presents, so everyone 'believed' in Santa when we went to mums! We're expecting, so next year we get to play Santa, and we're super excited about it - for us it's about the joy that magic and the belief in magic can bring. Also having Santa bring the big ticket items keeps the heat off us to provide awesome gifts for birthdays, too... I'm totally kidding there, but it's still not a bad idea! Of course as our future kids get older, we'll explain the true significance of the holidays, but why not let them enjoy their innocence while it lasts? For now we'll have Santa, and the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, and anything else they want to believe in.
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I had an ongoing mindgame with my parents from the age of about five or six. I think I must have suspected it, but I was a precocious brat about stuff at times and I also paid attention to detail. My mother gave it away by talking about where she bought something that I had got in my christmas stocking that year, and I was on her like a flash. But I wasn't traumatised by it. I think a little relieved, actually, that some random strange man wasn't walking through my house at night. I had to pretend for a while after that for my sister, but she figured it out fairly quickly too.
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I don't recall ever believing in Santa. I'm not sure how exactly that happened, I think it's that my parents are Christian and wanted me to see Christmas as the birth of Christ instead and they thought that believing in Santa would get in the way.
To be honest, I'm not sure I'm really inclined to believe such things are real, anyway. I just find it very hard to believe in things without any tangible evidence I can get, and looking back in my childhood I was like that back then, too.
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I think my favorite Christmas decoration of my mom's is a small statue of Santa Claus kneeling at the manger. Every Christmas eve we would read the nativity story out of the Bible and have a discussion about what Christmas was really about and in the morning there would still be one or two presents from Santa Claus. So we got to enjoy the magic aspects as well as the religious aspects of the holiday.
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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.
aww, that's sweet :lovey:
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I remember so well when my older brother ruined Santa for me. I was four years old and we celebrated christmas at my paternal grandparents. In Sweden we get the presents on the evening of christmas eve and it's Santa who comes knocking on the door to deliver them.
My brother asked me to follow him upstairs into our grandparents bedroom and spread out on their bed was Santas attire and on the floor his boots with the pointy toes. My brother told me dad was gonna leave to buy the newspaper and Santa would appear shortly after and that I should see he was wearing those cloths, meaning it was dad dressed up as Santa.
I did not believe him but sure enough, dad left and a short while later there was a knock on the door. Outside stod Santa with the same cloths and shoes I've seen upstairs. When dad came back later I sneaked back to the bedroom and looked for the cloths and they were there dissarayed which even more proved my brother was right.
I told mom and she was livid at my brother which also confirmed all he had said. Dad chewed him out as well for ruining Santa for me. It led to Santa being outsourced to neighbours the following years so we'd not ruin it for our younger siblings. As we grew older it became a sport trying to figure out who it was beneath the mask.
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I very much believed as a child until I was about 8 or so...until I saw Santa drive off in his car, (instead of his sleigh and reindeer) after his surprise visit to my large family gathering Christmas Eve :lol:
Didn't upset me to learn about it though.
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I don't remember seriously believing in Santa as a child. None of our gifts were tagged "from Santa", so I guess I wouldn't have had any reason to believe. I knew all my presents came from parents and siblings. Also my mom was / is a procrastinator and would wrap her presents in the basement on Christmas morning while we all excitedly waited for her to finish. When I was seven or eight I was given the responsibility of filling all the Christmas stockings. A fun job because I got to snack on candy as I did it.
I don't really get why some adults are so invested in getting kids to believe in Santa. No one needs to believe in a fat guy in a suit to make Christmas a magical time, it just is! I loved Christmas as a kid . . . putting lights on the tree, taking out the favorite ornaments, baking Christmas cookies with my mom, playing in the snow, then coming in to drink hot cocoa. My non-belief in Santa didn't deprive me of anything.
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I figured it out around 7 I think when I moved into a new house and saw my presents in the closet xD
When I was little I thought all the donated toys in stores went to Santa and he gave them out to kids who wanted them on their wishlist- thats how I got name brand toys I KNEW Santa didnt make!
:rofl:
With the to and from tags my family wrote in all caps to confuse me LOL!
I dont know if I want to do the whole Santa Clause thing with my future child when he/she is born. I will feel bad for lying to them but at the same time I want them to experience that magical feeling I had when I was about 3!
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I think I figured it out when I was nine or ten? Santa's handwriting looked suspiciously like my mom's.
Then again, maybe they just have similar styles. :)
My mom actually told me, however, when I was ten or eleven. It was part of a larger, "growing up" conversation.
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I did sort of until I was about eight or so. My parents had most gifts from them and one from Santa, so it wasn't too big of a deal if he wasn't real. Around that time I was sleeping on a pull out couch in the living room (I think this may have been my choice, I can't remember that far back very well) We had a fireplace in the same room, so I waited until what I assumed was past midnight and therefore Christmas Day. I didn't see anyone come down our chimney, so I figured "I guess Santa isn't real", then promptly fell asleep.
I very much believed as a child until I was about 8 or so...until I saw Santa drive off in his car, (instead of his sleigh and reindeer) after his surprise visit to my large family gathering Christmas Eve :lol:
Didn't upset me to learn about it though.
This reminds me of the time I told one kid that Santa drove around in a magic Minivan. He was 6 at the time, so I think he believed me.
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I never did. I only kid of 'did' for the fun of it for a little while and that was all.
Northstar: Aww I kind of feel sorry for that girl.
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We never celebrated Christmas with presents and everything here, just a tree and good food, so naturally I never believed in Santa.
However, I did believe in Sinterklaas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas), which is basically the same concept. I really believed that he came into my house, rode on the roof with his horse, and that he knew everything. I even believed that his horse drank the water I left for him with a suuuuuuuuper long straw while standing outside, when we lived in a flat. XD
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I remember myself being really confused about it all. I tried to believe since I was a very dreamy/faraway kid (not sure if its the right word sorry) and I loved everything concerning magic and fairytale like things. But... it wasnt easy...
When I was little there were at least four different stories different family members told me. Christkind (german), Santa (you know that one, lol), Svatý Mikuláš (czech, St. Nicolas) and Ded Moroz (russian, Father Frost) and all were different and somewhat scary (at least the czech equivalent to Santa... *shivers*). My family is a mix of way too many cultures I think, lol.
My daughter for example didnt really believe in it back then. Shes totally different from me in general; while I was into stories of magic and fantasy she prefered to hear true facts. Shes 13 now and has been showing austistic features from an early age on. Magic and fairytales have not been a thing for her really.
When she was really little, family kept telling her about Santa (well at least they all agreed on the same story XD) and she liked it for a while. It didnt last long though, lol. When she was about 4 I think she came to me asking me dozens of questions about Santa including things like "How old is he" and "What does he feed his reindeers for this amazingly long journey" and "What kind of sleigh could carry presents for every kid in the world when she herself already got such a load of things last year". Yeah, the more questions she asked the more difficult it got for me to find answers... and then she finally said "Its isnt real, right? It cant be. He already was a really old man when you were little, so how could he still be alive now?" I finally gave up and answered that at least it was a nice fairytale but she said "I dont like it, its nonsense." Yeah and that was it. No magic, no more tales. Ok for me, to each their own :)
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I actually just saw a really great video on facebook about how to transition between believing in santa, and understanding that Christmas is about giving and Christmas spirit. This lady would take her child as they started to doubt to a grown-up sort of brunch, and explain to them that they have grown up so much this year and that they think that they are old enough to take on the responsibility of being a santa. Each year they get to pick a person, either from their family, or a neighbour or friend, and they get to be their santa - they have to sneakily research what they think they need for Christmas, and with adult help, they get it for them - but the recipient can never know it was them, because it's not about getting credit, it's about the joy of giving. If it's for a child, they need the child's parent's permission, etc, and they get to help give their sibling the santa talk when it's their turn to 'become a santa' too. That way, Santa isn't a lie, it's a surprise, and a form of Christmas spirit, and I personally think it's a really great idea. No, there isn't a fat old man coming into the house, but he's just a symbol of giving, goodwill and happiness!
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I actually just saw a really great video on facebook about how to transition between believing in santa, and understanding that Christmas is about giving and Christmas spirit. This lady would take her child as they started to doubt to a grown-up sort of brunch, and explain to them that they have grown up so much this year and that they think that they are old enough to take on the responsibility of being a santa. Each year they get to pick a person, either from their family, or a neighbour or friend, and they get to be their santa - they have to sneakily research what they think they need for Christmas, and with adult help, they get it for them - but the recipient can never know it was them, because it's not about getting credit, it's about the joy of giving. If it's for a child, they need the child's parent's permission, etc, and they get to help give their sibling the santa talk when it's their turn to 'become a santa' too. That way, Santa isn't a lie, it's a surprise, and a form of Christmas spirit, and I personally think it's a really great idea. No, there isn't a fat old man coming into the house, but he's just a symbol of giving, goodwill and happiness!
I love that idea. :)
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I actually just saw a really great video on facebook about how to transition between believing in santa, and understanding that Christmas is about giving and Christmas spirit. This lady would take her child as they started to doubt to a grown-up sort of brunch, and explain to them that they have grown up so much this year and that they think that they are old enough to take on the responsibility of being a santa. Each year they get to pick a person, either from their family, or a neighbour or friend, and they get to be their santa - they have to sneakily research what they think they need for Christmas, and with adult help, they get it for them - but the recipient can never know it was them, because it's not about getting credit, it's about the joy of giving. If it's for a child, they need the child's parent's permission, etc, and they get to help give their sibling the santa talk when it's their turn to 'become a santa' too. That way, Santa isn't a lie, it's a surprise, and a form of Christmas spirit, and I personally think it's a really great idea. No, there isn't a fat old man coming into the house, but he's just a symbol of giving, goodwill and happiness!
This is beautiful. I still remember the first year my Dad took me shopping to choose presents for my brothers. I bought them Darkwing Duck and Megavolt figures. :D Also remember the first year my youngest brother got to shop for me. He chose Squall and Rinoa figures from FF8 and I still have them.
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Santa is Anonymous in our house. Anonymous for Good!
I will admit we default to Sinterklaas ,Nordic Elves and the Unseelie Court when pushed for more tradition. Also Svalbard is a real place and they really do raise reindeer in Lappland. :-p
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I think a little relieved, actually, that some random strange man wasn't walking through my house at night.
:lol:
My parents never taught me that Santa was real because they wanted me to know that they would always tell me the truth. With my personality I would have been crushed to find out someday that they had lied to me about that, so I'm glad they didn't say he was real XD I do remember an argument when I was 5 with a classmate where I insisted saucily that Santa was not real. Poor guy; hope I didn't shake his belief too early.
I don't think families that say there's a Santa are necessarily wrong, though. It probably comes down to how you do it and what personalities are in the family. I remember grilling one of my friends about how he felt when he learned there wasn't a Santa; it wasn't traumatic for him at all.
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(Please don't laugh at me...) I never actually realized the whole jolly old Saint Nick santa thing wasn't real until grade four, when I was about 9 and 1/2. And when I did, it was during a novel study, and the book was set during the Great Depression. The children in the novel hoped that because they were really good and times were tough, santa would give them extra special gifts. When they woke up, there were no gifts because they couldn't afford a gift. There was no santa. It was just mommy and daddy spending money to make you happy. So that was when santa was exposed for me. How about you guys?
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(Please don't laugh at me...) I never actually realized the whole jolly old Saint Nick santa thing wasn't real until grade four, when I was about 9 and 1/2. And when I did, it was during a novel study, and the book was set during the Great Depression. The children in the novel hoped that because they were really good and times were tough, santa would give them extra special gifts. When they woke up, there were no gifts because they couldn't afford a gift. There was no santa. It was just mommy and daddy spending money to make you happy. So that was when santa was exposed for me. How about you guys?
Oh my goodness this is just awful. The 1930's is a favorite decade for me for many reasons minus the depression. I know a lot of people made things, but many couldn't even do that. What a sad way to find out there is no Santa.
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(Please don't laugh at me...) I never actually realized the whole jolly old Saint Nick santa thing wasn't real until grade four, when I was about 9 and 1/2. And when I did, it was during a novel study, and the book was set during the Great Depression. The children in the novel hoped that because they were really good and times were tough, santa would give them extra special gifts. When they woke up, there were no gifts because they couldn't afford a gift. There was no santa. It was just mommy and daddy spending money to make you happy. So that was when santa was exposed for me. How about you guys?
Oh my goodness this is just awful. The 1930's is a favorite decade for me for many reasons minus the depression. I know a lot of people made things, but many couldn't even do that. What a sad way to find out there is no Santa.
yeah, especially for the kids who lived through that time period..
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(Please don't laugh at me...) I never actually realized the whole jolly old Saint Nick santa thing wasn't real until grade four, when I was about 9 and 1/2. And when I did, it was during a novel study, and the book was set during the Great Depression. The children in the novel hoped that because they were really good and times were tough, santa would give them extra special gifts. When they woke up, there were no gifts because they couldn't afford a gift. There was no santa. It was just mommy and daddy spending money to make you happy. So that was when santa was exposed for me. How about you guys?
Oh my goodness this is just awful. The 1930's is a favorite decade for me for many reasons minus the depression. I know a lot of people made things, but many couldn't even do that. What a sad way to find out there is no Santa.
yeah, especially for the kids who lived through that time period..
Commercial Santa, the way we know it today, didn't start until Coca-Cola started marketing him... hence why the Great Depression story.
"Coca-Cola commissioned Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom .... in 1931 [to produce ].... Coke ads in The Saturday Evening Post and [they] appeared regularly in that magazine, as well as in Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker and others."
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus
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I don't remember a time when I believed though I am sure there was one.
My mom always kept it going belief or not and never lied to me about it...it was just a fun illusion and disbelieving it didn't make any difference. We got some presents from family members and some from "santa" and of course I could tell whose were which by the handwriting...almost all of which was my mom's but sometimes a remote family member's gift got under the tree as "santa".
I never found the hidden presents, and we used to have fun watching the crazy "modern" stories about how Santa gets in through the stovepipe because there's no chimney etc...seems to me there were some specials explaining about how he now comes through the door etc. I think it was something about a lockpicking elf but can't remember anymore.
My mom used to make me a christmas stocking even long after I was an adult, full of candy and silly little toy cars and such trifles and I kept that stuff forever. I really miss her.
I've known for a long time that Rudolf was an invention of Montgomery Wards and wondered who started Santa...thanks for filling me in, lovesbabysquirmy, and for ruining christmas! Santa might be imaginary but Rudolf is real darnit!
Seriously though, we should now debate the Easter bunny cuz that one's real.