How did you find out Santa Claus was not real?

I was discussing this with a few girlfriends the other day, and the topic yielded some pretty funny stories.

I'll go first.

I never really believed in Santa Clause. My parents tried the whole Santa thing with my older brother, but somehow the idea of a strange man breaking into our house at night to put gifts in our living room terrified the heck out of him. So, as the youngest child in the family, I never really got to believe in Santa Clause.

How about you? How did you find out Santa wasn't real?

 

I was 6 and it was another student in the first grade. I then came home, sat my mom down and broke the news to her. Somehow, in my mind, it was all my dad's trickery and she was going to be devastated.

It took me another 6 months for it to click that the tooth fairy and Easter bunny were also suspect.

 

:lol:

 

I never did believe in Santa. Our house didn't have a chimney, and all the presents were already under the tree well before Christmas. I think I might have had my picture made with Santa as a baby, and maybe one other time. I always thought it was kind of weird.

 

I only believed in Santa until Kindergarten. I was a very logical child, haha. I just put together that it was absolutely impossible for Santa to exist. I kept hitting my grandma with the "facts" and she finally broke down and admitted I was right. When my mom came to pick me up that day my grandma was beside herself and my mom wasn't upset at all. The funny part is that I'd never believed in the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny- both had just seemed ridiculous right from the start. I don't know why I believed in Santa for longer- I guess because in my mind he was a person which made more sense than a giant bunny or fairy.

I was actually talking to some coworkers about this earlier this week and there was one teacher who is probably 70 years old and never got over the Santa "lie." She was going on about how she couldn't believe her parents had lied to her for all of those years, and if they were lying about that, what other lies were there?

 

I suspected, but my third grade teacher told our class there was no Santa. why she felt compelled to 'share' is still puzzling to me.

 

I came to the realization around 6/7 when Santa had the same handwriting as my mom and dad, and always used the same wrapping paper as they did.

 

When my parents divorced and my gifts at dad's said Santa & they were early!!! I believed!!!

 

My parents were always honest with me about it but we would still mention Santa. Like, "Oh, this one is from Santa".

Although in Elementary school I was the brat that went around telling other kids that Santa wasn't real.:lol:

 

A mean boy told me at school. I didn't believe him, and I punched him in the mouth. I went home and told my mom and she sat me down and told me the truth. I was in the 2nd grade and I didn't want to believe her either. I argured with my mom for awhile, and then when my dad came home he took me out for ice cream and verified the sad story. I hated the fact I had to apologize to the boy I socked in the mouth. I did it anyway.

 

I started figuring it out around 8 I guess but was sure when my dad had to work out of state during Christmas and mom had to go "do something" while we were at my grandmother's Christmas eve. We came home and Santa came then. My brother is 6 yr younger and has Downs. He never caught on and still believes.

My daughter is logical, too! Now, at 4 she had it figured out when Hubby took her to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop then saw another Santa while they were at Walmart. She told him that WE HAD TO BE SANTA. So, he thought quick on his feet and told her that Santa had helpers, he couldn't be everywhere and that the REAL Santa was at Bass Pro Shop! HAHA! She believed it and will tell you BPS has the REAL Santa and didn't want to see the fake Santa at church. LOL

 

:lol:

I remember snooping and finding a cassette tape that I was getting for Christmas... When it showed up in my stocking from Santa, it just confirmed what I was already pretty sure of.

My wife was traumatized by the "lie" though...

 

I always have a hard time understanding people who were traumatized by the "lie." Not that I[m disregarding their feelings, but I have a hard time fully comprehending it. Are there parents who have never lied to their kids? Never told them that the hot mess they just drew was a "beautiful horse"? Or told them that the Christmas Carol they just mangled was "great"?

I don't know- it was such a non-issue in my house. None of the kids ever got upset- it was always just "oh, you silly parents" and moved on. But then, we had the kind of parents who hid Chucky dolls in our rooms and turned the bathroom into a "murder scene" when we had sleepovers.

 

Yeah, I don't get it either...

 

I honestly don't remember--I guess I wasn't bothered by the news too much.

 

I come from a different country with different traditions so we didn't have tooth fairy or Easter bunny, or even Santa. Well, we had an old man dressed up like Santa. We didn't call him Santa but the same as ''Grandpa'', who symbolized the year that we were leaving behind. We knew that he was just an old man. Also next to the old man was always a little kid (boy or girl) dressed up the same, symbolizing the new year.

 

When I connected my moms handwriting to "santas" . I also left. Secret note for him that he never read

 

Blasphemous replies ....... Santa visits my house every year........ Long live Santa Claus ..............

 

My parents had been really clever, storing presents at our neighbors house until Christmas Eve. When we went to church and had dinner and presents with my dad's family, our neighbors would come over and put everything out. My sister and I, if we were still awake, could see that Santa had come by while we were gone.

When I was 7, I was given a blue and white parakeet for a gift (duly christened Joe). A few months later I found the box for his cage in the basement and put two and two together. I remember being completely unfazed by it, though. Santa being my parents made way more sense.

 

I honestly don't remember learning that he wasn't real. I'm the 2nd oldest of 5, so I suspect that my older sister had something to do with it. But it didn't leave a huge impresion on me-- Christmas is so very many things -- I have so many wonderful memories of the Christmasses of my childhood that learning the truth didn't leave a lasting impression on me.

 

My mom sat me down when I was in 3rd grade. I was young for my class, and my parents were afraid I would be teased if other kids found out I still believed. My mom explained it to me, and then took me shopping to buy the candy for our Easter baskets (she talked about how I could be in on helping keep the secret for my younger siblings). I was NOT happy with her. While we were gone, my little sister went in to my room, took my American Girl doll, and undid her beautiful braids. As an 8-year-old, that was the worst day of my life!

I remember sitting awake that next Christmas, listening for Santa, and hoping against all hope that my mom was somehow wrong!

(All that said, I never felt that she lied to me or 'held it against her' or anything--I just really wanted her to be wrong!)

 

For what it's worth, next summer I'll be having this conversation with my 10 year old if the question doesn't come up before then. As much as I would love to preserve the magic, I don't want her staunch defense of her beliefs to make her a target in middle school.

Her sister is desperately hoping that it's not the topic of one of those "sister to sister" chats.

 

My first grade teacher told us. She was of a different faith and didn't celebrate Christmas. Why she had to ruin it for those who did celebrate it, I don't know.

 

Wow! I thought t was stinky my third grade teacher told us! First grade? Unforgivable. Like your teacher, mine was also not of a faith that celebrates Christmas.

 

Every year my sisters and I worked in pairs. If either me or the sister closest in age to me woke up first, we had to wake each other up before waking our twin sisters. If our twin sisters woke up first, they had to wake each other up before waking the two of us. When we woke up in pairs, we would raid the stockings and check the scene before the other group did. It was an unspoken challenge every year and one we never really talked about nor did it feel competitive really. It was just what we did. One year, I was excited to be the first up. The light was shining outside so I knew it was time. I woke my "partner" up and we headed to the living room. We caught my mom in the act. She shooed us back to bed. Apparently the light was a street lamp outside and it was actually around midnight. Oops. We just figured it was a secret we discovered first. No biggie.

 

In 2nd grade one of my friends (who looking back was a little too grown for her age, as one of her favorite games to play was 'teenage mom who goes into labor") but anyhow, she told me Santa wasn't real and she and her parents had put out her brothers presents the night before. To prove it, when we were at my house she was like, "Let's go look in your parents closet. I bet all your presents are there".

So we did and sure enough, I found tons of gifts labelled "To Em from Santa". I was crushed

 

My 2nd grade teacher told me. Actually, she made fun of me for believing. She's the same one who got on to me for crying after my grandfather passed away.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

This made me laugh so much ahhaahaa. :lol:

 

Santa isn't real? Oh, no! Are you sure?

 

When I read this thread

I don't remember the exact moment, but I do remember a friend that's parents who had been divorced trying to tell me that she knew he wasn't real (maybe 2nd or 3rd grade). She said that she had to help her mom get the presents down. I said.. that's because you're so bad that your parents have to get you gifts instead of Santa. Harsh. I was a strong Santa enthusiast.

 

I never believed. My parents didn't encourage a belief in Santa, but I knew about him and that some kids believed he was real. People would ask me what Santa brought me, and I would always reply, "Nothing, because Santa isn't real". I would have been one of those traumatized kids if my parents had led me to believe Santa was real and then later told me he wasn't.

 

When I was about eight I just started thinking logically about it and realized that the Easter Bunny (I think that was the first one of the three that I thought of) couldn't be real so I asked my mom about and then I asked about Santa and the Tooth Fairy, too. It wasn't a huge deal and I was told that my little brother still believed so I had to keep the secret for him.

It's funny because looking back at an old Christmas video from when I was four or five my older brother and I got the other ones present and my mom said that she must have made a mistake (she and my dad always did Santa presents and presents that were labeled from Mom and Dad) and my brother said that they were from Santa and then she backtracked that Santa made the mistake, but we were both so excited about Christmas that we didn't really think about it.

 

My dad told me that he woke up on Christmas morning before the rest of the family one time, and there was a new toy in his brother's pile from Santa... He snuck it over to his own pile, and his parents couldn't do anything about it without revealing that they were Santa... I think he ended up getting away with it :lol:

 

Santa is real, Just as real as Love, as Hate, as Bewilderment, as Passion

 

I was in 2nd grade doing seatwork with my classmates & we got to talking & one boy said there's no Santa. I remember telling my mom what he said when she picked me up from school. I actaully don't recall what she said in response to that.

 

I dont remember every being told there wasn't a Santa. So as far as I am concerned Santa is real! Every year we would have to go down in the basement at my Grandma's house and wait for Santa to come. I heard Rudolph's sleigh bells. Come to think of it I think it's when I heard those sleigh bells on a day that wasn't Christmas Eve that I got suspicious.

 

One of my older sisters told me flat out. Actually, she posed it as a rhetorical question: "You know there's no Santa, right?"

My 10-year-old-self--wanting to fit in with the older and wiser kids--said, "Yeah, I totally knew that." I was so sad on the inside. But, that only lasted for, like, a day. Then I got over it!

 

I don't remember ever being told there wasn't a Santa. Actually, I have very few memories of Santa, so maybe I didn't believe that much. I was the very youngest of any of my extended family by a long way, so maybe it was just too much trouble? I do recall one Christmas Eve at my grandma's, and thinking I heard bells on the roof. I was only maybe 5 at that time.

I know when I taught 6th grade, I could tell there were always a couple kids who were on the fence. I always made sure to go along with the Santa thing, just in case.

 

Same here. Strong believer here and will not be deterred by naysayers.

 

It started with the tooth fairy. I did an experiment where I placed a recently lost tooth underneath my pillow without telling my parents. Next morning, the tooth was still there. I shared this finding with my parents who tried to explain that she must have been busy. Bah! I knew the truth. So, then of course Santa couldn't exist either!