Santa.....when did you

[Bitter Clinger]

Keep your kids from reading this

When did you or your kids stop believing? I was about ten, I figured it out on my own. I ask because my niece has been asking Ol' uncle bitter A LOT of questions. She's only eight but she's putting two and two together. My grandpa told my dad and he is STILL pissed at him about it lol. Were you told, or did you figure it out?

[HoneyBadger]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

[Coffee]






I honestly don't remember. I think I started to figure it out when I realized that Santa's handwriting looked a lot like Mom's... My mom still gives us presents "from santa" every year - It's usually something small, but utilitarian, like a nice pair of socks or a new tie. Momma likes us to look good. :)

My parents did some fun things for us over the years. One year, (probably more fun for them, now that I think about it) they didn't put names on any of the gifts. My dad used a pretty complex code system and you had to bring it over to him to decipher. This way, none of us knew who was getting which boxes. All the presents were under the tree for several days, but we never figured out his code.

[Sawin]

I honestly don't remember... the truth must not have hurt that much.

[GilpinGuy]

My 9 yo still believes in 'ol Saint Nick. We put our gifts under the tree a few days before Christmas, then put the gifts from Santa under there on Christmas Eve when they go to bed. We just "mailed" his letter to Santa yesterday. [Flower]

[SNAFU]

WHAT??? Santa Claus isn't real? Wow learn something new every day.

[Robb]

I actually still remember the moment. I was in the car heading home from somewhere with mom and she told me. I forget how old I was but sadly it must have been f'ing traumatizing! I still remember I cried.

I told both my kids at a fairly young age that Santa was actually mom & dad, grandma & grandpa. No tears, they were good with it.

[ruthabagah]

I was 10. But you know, a lot of grown ups still believe in Santa... They are called: Liberals.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I think I was 7 or 8. I reminded my parents to remove the AAFES price tags before they filled the stockings one Christmas Eve. There was a pause while they looked around, saw I had chosen a moment when my brother and sister weren't around, and they simply said, "don't ruin anything for your brother and sister."

They never actually admitted there was no Santa until about 25 years later when we were holding Christmas at my house and my dad said humorously that he wished we "kids" would go to sleep so they could fill the stockings and I told him it was my house, I was filling the stockings! Come to think of it, he never did come right out and say "there is no Santa," even then.

[Zach O]

Around 7-8. Because I have two older brothers that weren't very nice to me :-(.

[Chad4000]

Yeah I figured it out on my own.. i actually had a FB "friend" post up this ridiculous article today and how it's "almost criminal" to lie to your kids in an attempt to control their behavior etc etc.. (she meant like "santa claus is watching!").

she went on to comment that it's based on logic and bla bla. I replied, with "same must be true then for easter bunny, tooth fairy, imagination and hope". I mean really, are we trying to "shield" our kids from the "disappointment" of finding out that santa claus is an idea and not an actual man? what about the disappointment of your young son believing wholeheartedly that he will land a space ship on venus someday only to find out later that it wont happen.. lol I mean damn.. people get so far up their own ass these days..

[Monky]

What if Santa is real and you people with children are just helping him milk the system?

[Chad4000]

What if Santa is real and you people with children are just helping him milk the system?


there is that lol

[Jesus-With-A-.45]

Around 9-10 years old. I didn't have any older siblings, I went to Catholic school & Christmas was a HUGE deal to my dad so he did everything he could to make it awesome for us & keep us believing.

[sniper7]

I always found the presents from Santa hidden in the closet. It was when I was carefully checking to see what I would be receiving from Santa and got caught, and subsequently go no gifts from Santa that I found out he was not real.

[HoneyBadger]

I dont know if I ever thought there was a real santa. My kids have never been told his is real.

kinda of creepy. a fat beared pedo who breaks/sneaks into your house and gives your kids presents. I thought we were taught not to take candy from strangers.


I have never understood why parents would let children think that someone else gave their kids free stuff. You would think they would want to take the credit so their kids would be grateful. If I give my kids something, I want them to understand it took hard work and money to purchase their gifts, not some fairy god mother figure.
Lol very good point.

[Zundfolge]

I figured it out when I was 7 or 8 because I was a snooper and I found the present stash and put 2 and 2 together.

I didn't let on to my parents because 1) I figured the gifts would stop coming once I let them know I had it figured out and 2) I had a little brother that I didn't want to ruin it for (yeah, one of the few times I was a good big brother I'd say it was about 95% reason 1 5% reason 2).

[Aloha_Shooter]

the movies and songs are cute. its just the lying to children to make them believe he is real, I dont understand.

I don't think you have to lie to kids. I like the carefully worded response in the classic "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial.


Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what 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 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.

The fiction of Santa Claus is -- IMNSHO -- but a representation of the larger truth of the spirit of Christmas. The idea that someone or something exists for the sole purpose of giving to others is appealing to me. Santa isn't a pedo because he doesn't want anything more than for kids to be happy, much like the happiness Kris Kringle brought the little Dutch girl in "Miracle on 34th Street" simply by singing a song with her in Dutch. I find it intriguing that as our times get darker and darker, the mass media pushes Santa Claus and Christmas to the back or mocks them and increases the presence of Samhain/Halloween.

[Big John]

WHAT??? Santa Claus isn't real? My x-mas (and all future) is now ruined.[Rant1]

Thank gawd there's still a rabbit that lay's decorated hard boiled egg's and shit's out chocolate.

[Zundfolge]

The fiction of Santa Claus is -- IMNSHO -- but a representation of the larger truth of the spirit of Christmas. The idea that someone or something exists for the sole purpose of giving to others is appealing to me. Santa isn't a pedo because he doesn't want anything more than for kids to be happy, much like the happiness Kris Kringle brought the little Dutch girl in "Miracle on 34th Street" simply by singing a song with her in Dutch. I find it intriguing that as our times get darker and darker, the mass media pushes Santa Claus and Christmas to the back or mocks them and increases the presence of Samhain/Halloween.

One of the grand ironies of Santa Claus is that he's in part based on Bishop Nicholas of Myra who punched Egyptian Theologian Arius in the face at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 because he was pushing the idea that the church should adopt his belief Jesus was not the Son of God. The aftermath of which ended up leading to the Nicene Creed being written (its a long story that involves Nicholas being visited by Jesus while in jail over the punch, you can read it here (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/bishop-nicholas-loses-his-cool/) not going to discuss the story any further here as this isn't the proper venue and that's not really the point).

So a guy that put his life on the line defending Christianity from secularism has now become THE symbol of the secularization of Christmas.

[BushMasterBoy]

I read it on facebook...

[KS63]

When a majority of my presents became socks and other clothing items instead of toys. I knew the gig was up then. That was last year.....

[Gunner]

I started to when I realized Santa's writing was the exact same as my dad's. Then one year I can down early and my mom was still down there putting gifts out and I hid on the bath room. I was maybe 8

[Guylee]

I think I was 8 or 9. "santa" brought me a tool set for Christmas and a few days later I found the box for it under the stairs. My parents never were very good at hiding things...kind of like that box full of adult movies my dad had labeled "gun stuff." How the hell was I NOT gonna look in that box?

[Big John]

I think I was 8 or 9. "santa" brought me a tool set for Christmas and a few days later I found the box for it under the stairs. My parents never were very good at hiding things...kind of like that box full of adult movies my dad had labeled "gun stuff." How the hell was I NOT gonna look in that box?I don't know what is more upsetting. Finding out Santa isn't real... Or finding out mom and dad are watching porn.

[Zundfolge]

I don't know what is more upsetting. Finding out Santa isn't real... Or finding out mom and dad are watching porn.

Could be worse ... could be "making". [panic]

[Bitter Clinger]

53235

[Mtn.man]

When my dad and Grandpaw brought home alot of venison and a sleigh for the front yard. Musta buried him in the woods or let the critters get him.