Christmas Childhood Question

[Robbiee]

Simple enough, to get in the holiday mood. Well, actually sort of the opposite in a way.

 

How old were you when you found out the truth about Santa Claus or your parents told you? And how did you react?

 

 

Me, I was 11 or so. It wasn't surprising since I was having doubts for a good while and when I got the conformation at 13, I was 'meh'.

[Ramon]

Growing up in the Philippines, we always stayed up until midnight and opened presents so there was never the idea of Santa coming down the chimney (which we didn't have) and putting presents under the tree.

[K.C.]

I was 8 years old and this mean kid at school told me. I punched him and got in trouble but it was worth it

 

My kid is almost 13 and she knows but if we talk about it in front of her, she plugs her ears and sings Lalalalalalalalala! I think she likes to pretend that she doesn't know

[NightOwl88]

Looking back I think I always kinda of knew. My mom always had us write out letters to Santa but it was always our family that got the stuff for us. I wasn't broken up about it. I always thought she liked to pretend so I never said anything till I was older.

[wildone]

:o WHAT :o

 

What are you people talking about

[Bill W]

I was 10 when the older kids on the school bus announced to us younger kids that there was no Santa. It kind of ruined Christmas for me that year. .

[BeysJoshersLepton V2]

I've always had a healthy level of skepticism, the last christmas I truley "believed" was when I was 8. Doubts creeped in at 9 and at 10 I was brought into the fold. It was much easier to maintain the magic that is santa is real for my little brothers with an inside operative.

[Former Member]

Hmm... I don't remember really ever believing in him. I must have been really young when I learned the truth. I know that by around eight I was helping to keep the lookout for my parents, to make sure my younger siblings were still asleep and not awake, while they brought the prezies downstairs to put around the tree.

[Bumblebee]

i stopped believing when santa didnt bring me a pony for christmas..... for the 7th or 8th time, so i was around 8

but i keeped pretending until i was aboutb 12 cause i still wanted presents from mum

[Michael9344]

We get presents from our relatives around here so there has never been any illusion about Santa Clus. Of course, some shows are organized with a Father Christmas to give out presents, but there are no built up legend to him except that he is a Christmas celebrity.

[Elisabeth]

My folks were kind of careless about that. They tried to frightened us with the Santa Claus-thing (though, in both Germany and Romania the legend and tradition about it is a bit different, so don't wonder about that "frighten" part), but basically did everything else themselves. We never wrote up wish-lists or letters to Santa or something of that kind. So I guess I already knew there was no "Weihnachtsmann" (that's the German word) in my Austria kindergarten at age 4.

 

But I always find it interesting on how the believe-making works on some children. I think I should ask my godson (3 yrs. old) about "Weihnachtsmann" when he sees me next week.

[Nephylim]

I don't know that I ever believed. Even when we were keeping up the pretence I didn't actually beleive it; it was just fun to talk about Father Christmas coming in the night. It was a thrill even though I knew it was my parents all alomg

 

Neither of my children have ever believed in Father Christmas. For one thing I don't believe in lying to my childred. How can I, in all honesty, teach them that lying is wrong when I have been telling them such a big one for so many years. For another thing I am not Christian and therefore don't celebrate Christmas as such. We celebrate the Winter Solstice/ Midwinter Festival, a few days late. Fortunately most of the traditions are the same it's just the core meaning that's different.

 

For us the true meaning of christmas is a little darker. The red and white colorus, the robin, the berries... symbolise blood on the snow; At the Winter Solstice the Oak King is cut down by the Holly King who marks the ultimate dominion of winter. However, where the blood hits the snow a seed is born that lies dormant in the snow and grows again in the spring maturing again to the summer solstice when it is born as the golden child who grows into the oak king.

 

It's a lot more complicated than that and, of course, it's all symbolic. but that's what we do. The children have always known that the 'spirit of christmas' who some call Santa or Father Christmas, and who is seen sometimes as a fat man in red, sometimes as a saint, sometimes as a hook nosed witch... no matter how it is seen it's gift is the promise of new life which lfts spirits and makes people nicer to each other for a time. (generally)

[colinian]

I was about 7 when I noticed that the writing on the tags that said "From Mom and Dad" was exactly the same on the tags that said "From Santa" and it was like a lightbulb turning on. I was bummed about it for a while, then I became "Colin the all-knowing" around my friends who still believed. There's nothing so satisfying for a 7 year old as knowing something the other kids don't know.

 

Colin

[CassieQ]

I guess I grew out of the idea of Santa Claus around 9 or 10. I don't remember anyone ever telling me, but eventually you just figure it out. We still keep up the idea for my younger cousins when we get together for the holiday. It's fun to see them get so excited that they wake up at 5 A.M. and go screaming through the house : )

[DearRadee]

Growing up in the Philippines, we always stayed up until midnight and opened presents so there was never the idea of Santa coming down the chimney (which we didn't have) and putting presents under the tree.

 

Yeah, true that! We don't have a chimney so we never waited for Santa to come down there, which I really doubt because how on Earth would that big of a man fit there (magic, Kyle. Magic.)

 

Anyway, I think I was around 8 or 9 when I stopped believing on Santa I wouldn't go into details why I stopped believing but I loathed him after not giving me a laptop that Christmas day. That man.

[Nastasha]

When I was 5 I told another little girl that my grandma babysat that there was no Santa. So my grandma wrote me a letter pretending to be Santa and telling me how that was a really mean thing to do and how I will get nothing but coal for Christmas if I say that to anyone else. She sent it "From The North Pole."

 

That had me believing again (I was so gullible) until I was about 8 or 9. Then I started doubting again. It was confirmed for me when I was 13 and my dad had me pick out the exact new bowling bag that I wanted for Christmas, and it was sitting in my living room on Christmas day. Still, every year my parents ask my brother and me if we want to get our presents "from Santa" (meaning they never get put under the tree and just get stacked in our own piles in the living room next to the tree Christmas morning) or if we just want our gifts under the tree "like grown-ups." We still choose to play Santa. There's just something child-like and wonderful to come downstairs and have your own pile of pretty gifts.

[Zolia Lily]

I think I had known for a while but chosen to keep beleiving. My mum sat me down when I was probably 10 and said to me, 'now you know Santa's actually us, don't you?'

I nodded.

And cried.

[Krista]

I stopped believing around 7, because Mom had me help her wrap presents... lol.