How Old were you when you stopped believing in Santa?

[MarianJack]

Poll question: How Old were you when you stopped believing in Santa?

Believe it or not, some people actually think that Santa isn't real!

How old were you when you got this idea?

I was 8. The early 60's were an innocent time!

And YOU?

[johnnie]

1. I'm not really sure exactly

Being an insomniac even at the age of 4 or 5 I saw my parents doing their thing. So.. I was 4 or 5. It was kind of a drag, but at least I still got crap so I didn't care too much.

[MarianJack]

3. This Year Will Be a Challenge!

Life in a 2 bedroom apartment and all that!

Sorry for the insomnia.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. I'm 25.

As long as I keep getting presents from Santa, he's still real. :-)

[MarianJack]

5. Me Too!

I voted "Oh Please,..." and I wrote the damn poll!

We could use the coal, though!

[underpants]

4. There is no Satan?

:evilfrown:

[MarianJack]

6. WOW! A Bedeviling Question!

:hi:

[Strong Atheist]

7. 8 or 9. I lost faith in other things

later, obviously :evilgrin:

[MarianJack]

22. Same Age For Me

:hi:

[Robb]

8. W-w-what do you mean?!?

...S-santa? :(

[kmla]

9. It's OK, buddy.

Santa's still here. Don't worry.

:pals:

They're just talkin' a fool. I saw Santa just the other day. He was at the mall.

[Robb]

11. Yay!

Santa! Santa! :bounce: :bounce:

I'll bet he was there buyin' stuff for ME!! :D

[MarianJack]

28. He WAS!

:bounce:

[MarianJack]

13. I didn't say there was no Santa,...

...just that SOME believe that he isn't real!

[jandrok]

10. Santa lives!

Even if he's more of an abstract concept than one living being, Santa does indeed exist. His spirt lives in me when I'm putting out those presents under the tree on Christmas eve. His spirit lives in me when I'm wolfing down the cookies and milk that were left out. His spirit lives in me when I see my kid's faces light up brighter than the Christmas tree.

Santa lives.

[MarianJack]

14. You Absolutely...

...hit the nail on the head!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. My parents never did the Santa shtick when I was little

We opened our presents on Christmas Eve between the 7PM and 11PM church services (my father was a Lutheran pastor), and it was only when I was eight years old that my mom saw a pattern for Christmas stockings in some magazine, made them, and hung them up over the fireplace. From then on, we got candy in our stockings on Christmas Day morning, but by that time, there was no convincing me that it was actually from Santa Claus. I kept quiet for the sake of my brothers, who were much younger.

[MarianJack]

16. I'll Always Say that there is a Santa...

...to anyone!

[Coventina]

38. My dad was a Presbyterian minister, and felt that lying to children was

wrong.

So he & my mother never tried to make me or my sibs believe in Santa.

I never felt "left out" of the fun. I was just as happy to be getting presents from my friends and family. Cuz that's what mattered when I was a kid, getting the presents. Doesn't really matter who they come from!

[Dervill Crow]

40. One of the first arguments I lost with my husband was over Santa.

I didn't want to do Santa and he did. I always felt betrayed by my parents when they finally told me there was no Santa. I was probably close to puberty when they finally got tired of playing the Santa game, but my mom had given me that, "If there's anything I hate it's a liar" speech so many times it never occurred to me they would fib about something as important as SANTA.

Boy, was I a stupid kid. :dunce:

[Err]

15. I never believed in Santa, but I acted like I did for my parents sake.

I think they got a joy out of telling us about Santa, so I played along with it.

[MarianJack]

18. Many Kids Do!

:hi:

[bigwillq]

17. I was 8 or 9

I was in the third grade.

[MarianJack]

19. About the same age for me!

I was TICKED!

[bigwillq]

24. I wasn't.

I still got presents so to me it didn't matter who I got them from. :hi:

[MarianJack]

26. Once I Learned That,...

...I was O.K.

There IS a Santa, though!

So there! :hi:

[SteppingRazor]

20. I was 5...

I caught my parents hauling presents in from he garage after my bedtime.

For the next few years, I was that one annoying kid in the classroom who keeps insisting that there's no Santa.

[Err]

21. Haha...

I was that kid too. I made a lot of kids cry back in the day.

[Whoa_Nelly]

23. Age 6...older kids in family playing ping pong woke me up

So I sneaked downstairs and saw that they had already opened some presents and <<GASP!>> saw my mom filling the stockings!

[MarianJack]

25. A Shocker!

But you seem to be doing well now, though! :hi:

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. LOL Kept my son believing 'til age 8

Used to have Santa sightings...would say, "what? Who's that in the window?" My son would turn to look out the window, and I'd say, "Awww! You missed it! It looked like Santa! I think he was checking on you!" Then, for awhile afterward, he would be as good as he could be, and kept sneaking glances at the window. :rofl:

But, the Christmas he was 6, he got up at 4 AM and said Santa had woken him up. He'd heard sleigh bells outside. Coincidentally, the neighbor kid next door had the same thing happen to her at the same time that year... Who knows...maybe we're ALL wrong about Santa not being real! :shrug:

[MarianJack]

33. WHO SEZ...

...SANTA'S NOT REAL???

Dem's fightin' words! :grr:

Seroiusly, I might use that tactic!

[cmf]

27. 4 years old

I actually can't remember actually believing in Santa, but I do remember the moment I proved to myself that there wasn't any Santa. I played along for my parents sake for a few more years, though.

[MarianJack]

29. Many Kids DoPlay Along.

My twin nieces did.

I think that my son will, too.

[ashling]

31. When I was a kid,

my ambition was to be Santa Claus

[MarianJack]

34. Being Santa!

I've got the belly!

[meow2u3]

32. I belived Santa stopped coming for teens and adults

Santa, after all, is really Saint Nicholas, who actually dropped money down the chimney for brides unable to afford dowries (they did have that brutal system in the Holy Roman Empire).

It was the legend that morphed him into Santa Claus, who shimmied down the chimney to bring presents to good kids on Christmas

[MarianJack]

35. It Was a Nice Morph, Though!

:hi:

[0007]

36. Is Agent Mike interested in this type of information?

[MarianJack]

37. Maybe...

...he'll claim it's code when we all arrive at gitmo!

[Dervill Crow]

39. I don't remember, but my parents actually had to break it to me.

I was SO naive. It never occurred to me that they would actually lie to me, and I was crushed.

It just occurred to me that my horrible reaction to the truth about Santa is why they never did get around to telling me I was adopted. Seriously. My sister-in-law told me when I was 25.

[MarianJack]

41. A "Big" Kid Told Me!

I wanted to fight him.

Good thing I didn't. He'd have beat the daylights out of me!

[tigereye]

42. when I found all the presents in mom and dad's closet

one year. I think I was probably 9 or so. I must have suspected something, or I wouldn't have been snooping around. I always had wondered why the "from Santa" on the wrapped gifts was in my mom's handwriting. ;)

My son is 9 and keeps saying, how can Santa deliver all those presents in one night? So I guess it won't be long. But he sure wanted to see "Santa" (one of the owners) at my husband's work party....

[last_texas_dem]

43. I was eight

I found out about the lack of Santa after reading the book Superfudge. Curse you, Judy Blume! Honestly, Xmas has never been the same since; though partly, this is b/c I stopped "believing" in Xmas about the same time.