How old were you when you discovered there was no Santa Claus

[CatWoman]

With the exception of those who still believe in him, do you think children should still be fed this myth?

Why or why not?

[TrogL]

1. You obviously haven't been paying attention

[CatWoman]

2. Trog!!!

how ya doing??? :hi:

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. What do you mean, no Santa Claus?

:cry:

[CatWoman]

8. you're too evil to believe in Santa

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Geez. Ya eat a couple busloads of nuns in El Salvador and get branded for life.

:eyes:

[skygazer]

4. NO SANTA CLAUS???!!!

MYTH??!!

:cry:

[CatWoman]

yeah, like some fat ass white man comes down your chimmney

and leaves toys.

what if you don't have a chimmney?

and does Santa show up in the hood? he'd be smoked in nothing flat :)

[originalpckelly]

5. I thought it was Satan Claus? Isn't that why he wears red all the time?

I mean, isn't the North Pole hell frozen over? Did I miss something?

[Lex]

6. WHAT?!1!

Oh noes. :cry:

[SPKrazy]

7. WHAT!!!!!!

no santa claus

yes i do think it is a good myth...

childhood is magical and fun, or should be.

I have no problem with it because it is fun for the kids.

I don't like the super commercialized way that things have become in regards to this.

The whole retail economy is built around Christmas.

[lost-in-nj]

17. sorry SPK

he is there.....
and alive and well
I try to keep him alive anyway....
in my own way


I BELIEVE......


lost

[skygazer]

9. Okay, a serious answer

I was about 7 or 8, I think. My brother slipped up and thanked mom for a "santa" gift, then covered it up with an elaborate wink, wink kind of thing.

It didn't warp me. It didn't make me angry that my parents had "lied" to me. I still half believed anyway because it was a fun thing to believe, like all the other pretend stuff I believed or wanted to believe. Kids have great imaginations and love to play pretend games. Santa is a big pretend game and I think the great majority of kids have no issues about learning that he's not real.

Those who do probably have other issues that contribute to any sense of betrayal. JMO :hi:

[VenusRising]

10. I figured it out when I was 6 or 7.

Santa's handwriting was strangely identical to my mother's. If she hadn't left me the note thanking me for the cookies as Santa, I probably wouldn't have figured it out for another year or two.

But that didn't suck as much as having chicken pox on Christmas when I was 5. I couldn't even enjoy my presents I was so itchy.

[orleans]

34. omg! that's how i figured it out--my mother's handwriting. not over a note

for cookies, just the tags on the presents.

i don't remember how old i was.

[VenusRising]

38. If I ever have kids....

I'm going to get someone outside the family to make out the "From: Santa" tags.

[Arugula Latte]

43. I disguise mine quite well. However ...

My son said he'd noticed that the "Santa" handwriting on his cousin's presents was different than the handwriting on his ... :)

[VenusRising]

44. That's because they have the elves write the tags.

;)

[orleans]

49. that's what i thought. then i just ended up disguising the writing. n/t

[leftofthedial]

12. WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Myth?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

[Parche]

13. There is no santa claus?

Oh How could you.............:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :hi:


OH MEOW

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. 51

And I'll never forgive you. :cry:

[KG]

15. about the time i lost my virginity.

talk about your epiphanies!

[lost-in-nj]

16. To be honest

I am 49 years old....
I still believe....
I have seen some miracles......

:hi:

at least here in my family....


lost

[Silver Swan]

18. Was this a serious question?

I never thought Santa was real.

My mother felt so devastated when she found that Santa wasn't real that she vowed her children would never go through that. (This was back about 1920, before Christmas was as comercialized as it is today.)

Because I managed to grow up happily ever after with only a make-believe Santa, I always taught my own children (who are now adults) that Santa was make believe, like the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny.

Those make-believe creatures still performed their duties, but it was known that it was just pretend.

To me, when I hear of children ages nine and ten who actually think Santa is real, it just seems wrong.

Why lie to children? IMO, it isn't magical, it's sick.

(No, I'm not going to argue my point. I'm just going to post and run...)

[CatWoman]

19. yes, it is a serious question

driving home from work yesterday, they were discussing this on the radio.

many agreed with you, and tell their children that it's their parents who work hard to provide for them -- there is no "magical" being who provides them with food, shelter, welfare, etc.

[bluetrain]

20. Eleven. Don't laugh. We weren't even Christian. My mom (67) still claims to believe in him.

[kedrys]

21. AAAIIIIEEEEE!!!!

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

:rofl:

[Oldtimeralso]

22. Santa Lives

I know that, I was told by the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. Besides that, the New York Sun said so!

"No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

[RushIsRot]

23. What's this? No Santa Claus? I refuse to believe it!

SOMEBODY keeps eating those cookies and milk I leave out!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. At my house...

Santa gets cookies and a Manhattan. We have these hilarious pictures of our kids in their pajamas, pouring the whiskey into a lowball glass on Christmas Eve.

[quip]

24. Shirley you jest...

:shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. My brother told me there was no Santa Claus when I was 5.

It was at least ten years before I realized that there truly is a Santa Claus.

This says it better than I can:

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

26. I can't remember when

I can't even remember how I figured it out. All I remember is that one day I said to my Dad "there is no Santa or the Easter Bunny is there?" and he confirmed it

[Mythsaje]

27. I was six...

Caught my best friend's mom doing the tooth fairy thing during a sleepover. Knew at that moment that it was all nonsense, but I played along for a few more years to make my stepmom happy.

I have mixed feelings about the myth. I swore I wouldn't do that to my kids, but the choice was taken out of my hands and, apparently, their mother made a different decision when the time came. My youngest (he's 9), still believes, but my oldest probably knew a LONG time ago. He's been very good about not ruining it for his brother.

[Kucinich4America]

28. SANTA CLAUS IS A GODDAM LIBRUL COMMIE BASTARD !!!!!!1111!!!!!!!

I'M SERIES!!!11!!! HE WEARS RED, REDISTRIBUTES WEALTH (TOYS) AND DISTORTS THE MEANING OF CRISMAS FROM THE BURTHDAY OF OUR LORD AND SAVEYOR JESUS H. CHRIST, GODDAMM IT!!111!! THIS IS A SERIESLEE HUGH COMMIENEST CONSPIRUCY!!!!111!1 SOMEONE ALURT DRUDGE NOW!!!!11!!

[reformedrepub]

29. I was in second grade

and our teacher spilled the beans........

[CreekDog]

30. 8

the truth of life is a pretty hard thing. there are worse things at that age to do than believing in rewards for good behavior, even if that fella don't exist.

[Downtown Hound]

31. Six or seven

Don't really remember how old I was, but I do remember when my mom confessed. I had already heard the rumors from other kids so I wasn't all that surprised. I actually questioned her about it, and she came clean.

I can't say I'm really all that big on the Santa myth. I think childhood, and life in general, has enough mystery and magic to where we shouldn't need to tell lies to our children. It's my humble and insignificant opinion that when you're a child and the magic you're told to believe in is exposed to you as a fraud, then you are less likely to believe that there's any kind of magic or mystery in the world at all. And that, I believe, is an even greater lie, and a disservice to our young people.

[Heidi]

32. Gawd, you're mean.

You could have at least warmed us up a little before dropping that bomb. :cry: :cry:

[sakabatou]

33. Since I knew I was Jewish

[rockymountaindem]

47. Ha! Same here

When I was in school for the first time, I guess it was when I was 4 and in preschool, my mom took me aside one morning before we left for school. She said, "Rocky, some of your friends will probably be talking about someone named Santa Claus..." She proceeded to explain the whole story about who Santa is and what he does. Then she said, "does all that sound possible?" I guess I said no. I remember this next part very specifically:

"That's good, Rocky. But don't tell any of your friends that he isn't real or else they won't want to be your friend anymore."

And for my whole life I've never been the one to break the news to anybody about Santa's non-existence.

[Raven]

35. When I was 8, I stopped believing but then I had to figure out who

was pretending to be Santa at my Grandmother's annual Christmas Eve party. Every year Santa came with gifts for the kids. This particular year I decided it must be my father or one of my two uncles so just before Santa was to arrive, I went around looking for which man was missing. They were all present when Santa arrived. He put me on his knee and showed me a cut on his finger. His hands were very large and rough and he told me that was because of all the toys her had made that year. I was stunned. This incident made me a believer for a few more years! Many years later I found out that the man who palyed Santa every year was my grandmother's handyman.

I'm 61 years old and I still remember that Chrictmas Eve as if it was yesterday!

[last_texas_dem]

39. Eight

Probably a little later than a lot of kids, but I was a fairly sheltered kid, I guess. Anyway, I found out about Santa Claus from reading the Judy Blume book Superfudge. There is a chapter where the oldest brother in the book is discussing there being no Santa Claus; I got curious and went and asked my mom about it... And Xmases haven't been the same ever since; damn you, Judy Blume! But honestly, Xmases never being the same ever since has little to do with finding out about Santa Claus. I think it was more just growing up in general. I stopped believing in a lot of other things around the same age.

Personally, I don't have any problem with kids believing in Santa Claus. I mean, the whole overdone buying and giving tons of junk aspect of Xmas is a total mess, anyway; Santa was the only real "magic" aspect of all of that, so I don't really mind little kids having something like that to believe in for a few years. This is coming from someone who has never really been into Xmas for the religious aspects, though, so maybe my take on it's a little different. If you're a Xian, I guess there is something more magical in the holiday.

[LostInAnomie]

40. In first grade

A Jehovah's Witness kid made it a point to tell everyone in the class that there was no Santa, and that the presents were put under the tree by our parents.

I put a booger on him.

[dropkickpa]

41. I have 2 older brothers

I was maybe 3 years old. Bastards!

Dropkid still believes, but she's too logical about the whole thing and I think this may be the last year for her.

[sniffa]

42. i'd say around 10

i figured out there was no Santa, and no Easter Bunny when i had an epiphany: after bragging to one of the neighbors that i got a dollar from the tooth fairy, the kid made fun of me for believing in the tooth fairy. i was staggered, as it didn't make sense. he informed me that my parents were the tooth fairy.

i thought long and hard that day, and i realized that the kid was right - the tooth fairy is a sham. and then i thought about xmas and easter, and realized that was a sham too.

after coming to this conclusion i confronted my parents about their deception, and announced that i know their secret, and that i no longer believe in Santa, et al.

my parents, without missing a beat, exhaled a sigh and said, "thank god. now we don't have to buy you presents anymore."

to which i yelped, "no!! i still believe!!"

:rofl:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

45. ....What??

NOOOOOO!!!

Seriously, about 7, but I'd suspected the truth even before that. Even so, I liked the story and kept playing along for my little brother. I don't think there's any harm in it at all for little kids. They can leave out cookies and try to stay awake for him, and they're all excited in the morning to see what he left.It's fun for them. Even after we grew up my parents filled Christmas stockings for us with special little gifts from "Santa." We always had fun with the Santa thing.

[UTUSN]

46. There's no Santa?!1 But, but.... then who is THIS?!

[jmm]

48. I never believed in Santa but

I thought once I admitted it I'd stop getting gifts. I pretended to believe for a couple of years and asked "difficult" questions because I couldn't understand why people lied to me.

Last weekend while out at a restaurant I overheard a mother arguing with her son in the restroom. She kept telling him that Santa can see everything and if he didn't flush he wouldn't get any gifts. He finally flushed and she let him know Santa would still visit as they walked out. Apparently Santa doesn't care about people washing their hands :shrug:.

I always told myself that if I have kids I won't lie to them about Santa but after that I got a better understanding as to why parents keep the lie alive.

[Reverend_Smitty]

50. I honestly can't remember a time when I believed in Santa...so I guess I was around 6 or 7

My mom knew I didn't really believe in Santa when I was a kid but we still managed to have fun with the idea of Santa. We still put cookies out even though she knew that I knew that she was going to eat them herself after wrapping presents. It was just harmless fun

[Mutley]

51. Seven.

It was about a week before Christmas and my family was getting ready to make the road trip to my Grandfather's house in the far off land of Buffalo, NY. My parents were stacking items to be packed in the car on the table in the kitchen. I decided to take a peak in one of the boxes and saw gifts marked "From: Santa."

Even at such a tender age I had a superb analytical mind ( :P ), and I just knew those presents meant Santa wasn't real. I did, however, let my parents think I still believed in him for another two years. It seemed pretty obvious that once they knew you no longer believed in Santa Claus, you'd get less presents.

I see no problem in allowing children to believe in Santa Claus. It makes Christmas that much more exciting, and not just for the children (my sister and BIL have a blast staying up late on Christmas Eve -- wrapping the kids' presents and stacking them around the tree, listening to Christmas music and drinking spiked eggnog). I don't know anyone who was permanently traumatized by the realization that Santa Claus isn't real. Anyone who was permanently traumatized probably has deeper issues going on.