How did you find out Santa isn't real?

Question

How old were you and how did it make you feel?

Answer 1

0 to 6 years old = Santa is real
7 to 20 years old = Your presents are getting too expensive for your parents liking, so they burst your bubble for you.
Adult (pre-parenthood) = no-one sneaks you presents late on Christmas eve ... being naughty is not brought into the equation
Parenthood = Believe Santa is a good way to make kids nice, not naughty ... so keep the Santa story alive
Pre-Grand parenthood: too expensive to get gifts for kids - again, Santa gets bunked
Proud Grand pa/ma: Teaching Santa is real again

Santa can't be in every mall around the world, so I am one of the volunteers sitting in the Big Guy's suit in Australia. The above age ranges are the ones that show more happiness at seeing Santa wave to them.

Please note: At no time has Santa actually been disproven. A limited experience with one fake Santa does not reject Santa as a whole. I don't see myself as a lier for taking the role of Santa in a mall. I just understand the real Santa couldn't make it during my shift

Answer 2

i had a very funny feeling about this Santa guy since i was a little girl. i live in Trinidad and we don't have a chimney there and i always wonder how he brought the presents inside.i was 5 and my aunt told me that Santa was not real. i felt sad but in a good way.

merry Christmas!!!!

Answer 3

I found a receipt in the trash while taking out the rubbish bins....it was from a toy store and had the price of a "Big Wheel' on it.....I noticed that 'Santa' had brought me a "Big Wheel' for Christmas.....I was a bit disappointed but not overly.....it actually made me realize how much trouble my parents went thru to see that I enjoyed the holiday.

Answer 4

My older sister sat my two brothers and I down and told us there was no Santa, told us the "phone calls" fro Santa were really her pretending to be Santa, that Mom bought the gits. I was seven. A little to early IMO to stop believing in Santa.

NC

Answer 5

I was told by my cousin when we were 9. I was talking to her own the phone, excited about xmas, and she spouted out "Santa isn't real" in one of the harshest of tones. We argued, I hung up on her. I ran downstairs and cried to my mother asking why she lied to me all this time.

Answer 6

I am 10 and my mom was wrapping gifts so I looked at what I asked for and I saw.. to me from santa

Answer 7

OK...i live in Jamaica and therefore that means that no santa ever existed not even wen we were little and ignorant did we think bout santa or maybe its because we dont have snow ......

Answer 8

In short, I was six years old and I felt deeply betrayed. Even lead me to deeply question all of religion, and especially my own religion, and God himself.

I found out the truth through relentless logical questioning. Grown-ups seemed to have this insatiable need to prove that Santa was real and make me believe in him, but when the classic arguments of magic were employed more and more frequently, I began to wonder why the more realistic arguments were more quickly abandoned in their favor. Adults soon become evasive of my candid, powerful questioning, because the inconsistency and illogical reasoning was becoming increasingly apparent, even with the assumptions of magic which I granted for the sakes of their arguments. The lack of a consistent story makes group discussion quite effective in discovering inconsistencies and lies.

Finally, the younger adults and teens started breaking down and admitting the truth with consistent, logical answers which I found much more satisfying. When it was completely settled that adults, who I had deeply trusted, were advancing a bold lie with no motive beyond my happiness, I began to wonder why adults could not let me be happy with the truth.

This was my first exposure to a real conspiracy (as opposed to all those bad government conspiracy theories). I immediately began to question all other similar arguments, especially religion, which holds very strong foundations in "magical" explanations. What other conspiracies were adults and society advancing and was there some deeper, darker motive? Why would they risk so much credibility simply to "make me happy?" I concluded that there must be other reasons, and soon it became apparent that these were simply traditional methods to control my behavior and those of my peers and of all the other children.

I felt deeply betrayed even though I had never really bought into the Santa facade in the first place, because I was targeted for deception by those I trusted most. They added insult to injury when they requested that I play along, or at least say nothing on pain of "serious consequences." They wanted ME to help them continue to perpetuate the lie to the youngest and least suspecting, but I would have no part in it. When I was asked about the reality of Santa Clause, I would answer that the adults would not allow me to freely express my views on the matter, and this was generally enough to reveal the truth without exposing me to punishment. Because of the methods and traditions surrounding Santa Clause, I currently hold a deep distrust in the underlying social institutions, their traditions, their practices and methods, and their beliefs. While I still consider myself religious, I am definitely not superstitious, and am definitely highly scientific in my approach to religion and "magic."

You don't have to teach that Santa is real in order to enjoy Christmas. My two daughters both know that Santa isn't real (they asked me and I told them the truth), but they still love to see him in movies, costumes, and pictures very much. I love to see that they can enjoy Santa Clause without "believing" in him, becoming superstitious, falling away from religion, or risking my own credibility in this well-meant, but ill-served conspiracy. They love Santa, elves, and flying reindeer, even more so than Elmo or Dora (still very hot items of interest for them), without "believing that they are real."

Answer 9

Anyone who brings me presents under the name Santa Clause is very much real. They might not be "St Nicholas" but they are real...

Answer 10

i was 9 and i was traumatized... well you see me and my cousin Steven had this plot to capture Santa Klaus and on that particular Christmas we heard something in the room with the tree and we crept out of the bedrooms down the hallway.. armed with baseball bats......and.....There he was... (or so i thought).. big red pants bending over and black boots.... We creeped up behind it and it turned around and it was my mom.. she yelled at us to go to bed.. i made some comment......like.. no wonder we got crappy presents cuz she stole the cookies.. ..i never changed that opinion even after she told me he wasn't real

Grouchy old Bi***