Do you remember the details and EXACTLY when you found out Santa wasn't real?

Question

I honestly can't remember when I found out Santa wasn't real. I'm sure my parents didn't tell me - I probably told them. I have a younger sister (3 1/2 years younger) and I kinda remember them telling me to keep it to myself so that she didn't find out. But I have absolutely no recollection of how old I was or how I figured it out. And I'm sure that for sometime, even though I was pretty sure he wasn't real, I kinda pretended he was . . . just in case.

Did anyone feel heartbroken when they found out? I know that some parents feel strongly that perpetuating the myth of Santa is lying to their children - do any of you actually remember thinking badly of your parents for this "sometimes called" lie?

Answer 1

I have two older brothers and I'm sure that they told me. I don't remember feeling sad about knowing.........because I truly wanted to belive that there was a Santa. I knew that he wasn't real but the idea of him is so innocent and pure....I guess I just wasn't ready to "grow-up" when I found out and wanted to keep that special feeling for as long as possible. Now I get to share it again with my daughter! It's really wonderful!

Answer 2

It was 4 days till Christmas and I was 7 years old. My sister and I were going to go caroling with the neighborhood kids and we had been practicing for days with one of the neighbor ladies so I was very excited. I was on my way out the door when I noticed a few new presents under the tree and I looked and they were from Santa. My mom did not pay attention to the gifts she stuck under there and she ruined my Christmas that year. I am now a parent and I make sure my kids only get one gift from Santa so that when they find out he is not real Santa hasn't been getting all the credit all these years.

Answer 3

What a good question. I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately because my oldest child is 2 1/2 and just starting to learn about Santa. It's given me time to reflect on my experience.

Yes, I remember exactly the day, time and place I found out for sure that Santa didn't exist. It was the Christmas after I turned 7 years old, and I'd started to have some doubts (school peers can do that for you). But I remember it was almost bedtime Christmas night and I went into the living room to get something out of my stocking. As I pulled in down from the fireplace and started to dump it out, I over heard my great-grandparents ask my dad (they were around the corner in the kitchen) who eats the cookies and drinks the milk we would leave out for Santa. I heard my dad respond, "I do." Then they asked if he was also the one who wrote a quick thank you note on the napkin we left out with it, and he said yes.

I remember being very sad. I wasn't completely heartbroken, I'd already started to doubt, but hearing this complete confirmation that Santa didn't exist and my dad had been doing it for 7 years was very saddening. I remember putting my stocking back quickly and leaving the living room as quickly as I could. The next morning my mom asked me if I'd heard something that upset me, and then we had a discussion about it. But with two younger sisters, it wasn't too hard to still get into the spirit of things because my parents always included me on the fun, secretive stuff every year after that (which also meant getting to stay up later on Christmas Eve). So that made it a lot easier to deal with.

Answer 4

I was in the first grade so about 6 or 7 years old. I remember my mom telling me if I could wait until my sister fell asleep (we shared a room and she was younger) she had a book she wanted to share with me. It was called "Santa, are you for real?" and it had a picture of a little boy standing outside in the snow under a streetlight yelling it up.
Is that enough detail or you want more?
OK, here goes...
The book never came out and said that Santa wasn't real. It did emphasize how important it is to understand the spirit of giving starting with when God gave us that most precious gift on Christmas night...His son.
I think I must have had an idea about the whole Santa conspiracy though b/c mom asked me something about Santa being real when she was done reading and I said, "Mom, I know you and dad are Santa, I know Christmas is about celebrating Jesus' birth, and I know your book is boring." and I went back to bed.
It must have had some sort of significant impact on me though for me to remember all of that. It happened almost 23 years ago!!!

Answer 5

i honestly don't remeber anything also, but since grade 5 i've been arguing w/ my cousin about this,cause' they don't really believe in santa when we argue i always win, I always tel them that if santa is not real, then who made up the story about santa and what about the gifts we always recieve when we were a kid. But that time i wasn't recieving any gifts from santa anymore, so after those years, i started realizing that santa wasn't real and my parents were the one who are giving those gifts i really want, that's why they always ask me what do i really really want for xmas and they say that they'll e-mail it to santa. Now im with them trying to fool my niece about santa claus, since its already christmas my dad and my brother-in-law is planning to be santa and rudolph..

Answer 6

I remember asking my mom and her saying "Do you believe in the spirit of Christmas?", well I realized then that there wasn't a santa but it didn't mean Christmas was over for me. I was about 7 or 8 I think.

Answer 7

I remember it vividly, I was 6 yrs old and woke up Christmas Eve night because I was sick, I went to my parents bedroom and they weren't there so I started going down the stairs and saw my mom & dad putting a bike together for my older brother and eating the christmas cookies we had put out for Santa. I remember feeling very sad. I went back up the stairs to my room and cried myself to sleep.

Answer 8

I can remember it very plainly as I guessed Santa was't real, at the age of 9. My niece guessed Santa wasn't real because at our family Christmas party my uncle who played Santa did't change his shoes and the shoes gave it away, she was 7 years old.

Answer 9

a few weeks after Christmas... Third Grade in the cafeteria of Churchland Elementary School in Portsmouth, Virginia... some kid said there was no Santa and he caught his parents putting packages under the tree... I confronted my mom afterwards... she admitted it... I cried. As Don Henley put it... "The End Of The Innocence." Christmas was never as wonderous and magical after that.

Answer 10

Yes, I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at school in first grade, coming out of gym class someone told me that there wasn't a Santa Claus. I was so upset I didn't believe them, so when I got home I asked my older sister. She told me it was true, I didn't believe her either, she said I'll show you how I know. We went upstairs to a very large hall closet. In the closet were packages with our name on them. Then I knew it was true.